Cal v. USC College Football Betting Odds and Lines: Golden Bears Are Favorites

California is a one-score favorite over USC at home

Las Vegas oddsmakers believe California will end its season on a high note.

The California Golden Bears (4-7, 3-5 Pac-12) are one-score favorites over the USC Trojans (4-7, 3-5 Pac-12). The most recent Cal v. USC college football betting odds is California -2 and a 57 and one-half total for “over-or-under” bets as of Sunday evening, according to VegasInsider.com, which aggregated U.S. sportsbooks’ football lines to create a “consensus” spread.

The college football betting spread implies the California Golden Bears are a two-point favorite against the USC Trojans.

The Golden Bears have scored 58 or more combined points with their opponents only four of its 11 games this season. California did not even meet this high watermark in the 124th Big Game against the Stanford Cardinal two weeks ago when it piled on more than 600 yards of total offense.

The Cal v. USC college football betting line opened Sunday before 11 a.m. Pacific at the Circa Resort and Casino in downtown Las Vegas, according to VegasInsider.com. Other U.S. sportsbooks opened betting action on the Bears and Trojans late Sunday morning with California as two-point or two and one-half point favorites.

Last week, the USC Trojans lost to the No. 13 BYU Cougars at home, 31-35, despite a second-half rally. After trailing the entire game, the Trojans earned their first lead of 31-28 after a 10-yard pass to Gary Bryant, Jr. from first-year quarterback Jaxson Dart.

BYU iced the game with less than four minutes of regulation with a seven-yard rushing touchdown from Jackson McChesney.

USC, which recently hired Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley on Sunday, will still be led by current interim head coach Donte Williams when they travel to Berkeley, Calif., for their season finale.

California last beat USC on Nov. 10, 2018, in a close 15-14 comeback at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The victory ended a 14-game Golden Bears losing streak to the Trojans.

The Golden Bears’ last win against the Trojans at home was on Sept. 27, 2003, when the starting quarterback was a junior-college transfer named Aaron Rodgers. California maintained a lead against USC the entire game before the Trojans forced overtime. The Golden Bears went on to upset the then-ranked No. 3 Trojans, 34-31, in the third overtime period.