WSU vs. Cal: Community prediction

The Cougars return to Martin Stadium the the first time in nearly a month only to face a Cal team which has dominated the head-to-head matchup recently. The Bears have won the last seven meetings between the two teams.

Recent WSU vs. Cal games have gone either one of two ways. They've either been blowouts (66-3, 49-17, 30-7) or tight games (42-38, 20-17, 20-13). Based on the season win/loss records, this game would seemingly be more towards the tight game side, but Cal measures extremely well in some advanced metrics.

Football Outsiders' S&P+ metric has Cal as the No. 27 team in the country, or 59 spots ahead of WSU. The Bears have gotten unlucky at times this season and are also coming off their best performance of the season. During the preseason predictions, 59 percent picked the Cougars.

California Profile:

2012 record: 2-4

2012 S&P ratings: 224.1 (WSU: 182.7)

2012 Phil Steele power rating: 136 (WSU: 122)

2012 road record: 0-2

Preseason prediction: WSU (59 percent), Cal (41 percent)

Last week: Won 43-17 against UCLA

All-time record vs. WSU: 43-25-5

Craig's offensive preview: LINK

Craig's defensive preview: LINK

Preseason prediction thread: LINK

In lieu of a "who will win" poll, maybe I should just post a poll on whether or not this will be a problem.

If we don't win, and it gets ugly. There's probably a good chance that Mike Leach bobbleheads will fly onto the field.

by WSUSeagull