Cal v. UCLA College Football Betting Odds and Lines: Golden Bears Seek Bowl-Eligibility
California is a one-score underdog against UCLA
Despite the respective one-sided beatdowns of their rivals this past weekend, Las Vegas oddsmakers think California and UCLA's match-up will be a close one.
The California Golden Bears (4-6, 3-4 Pac-12) are one-score underdogs against the UCLA Bruins (7-4, 5-3 Pac-12), which thumped the USC Trojans (4-6, 3-5 Pac-12) in the Coliseum 62-33.
The most recent Cal v. UCLA college football betting odds is California +7 and a 57 and one-half total for “over-or-under” bets, as of Monday morning, according to VegasInsider.com, which aggregated U.S. sportsbooks' offered odds to create a “consensus” spread.
The betting spread implies California is a seven-point underdog against UCLA.
The Cal v. UCLA college football line opened Sunday at 11 a.m. PT with the same California +7 spread but a higher total. The Circa Resort and Casino in downtown Las Vegas posted a 60 and one-half total, according to VegasInsider.com. The over-or-under total has since dropped to 58 and one-half at Circa.
In the current 2021 college football season, California has won six out of 10 games against the betting spread.
The Golden Bears will be particularly motivated to beat their Southern California university-system rivals. California must win Saturday’s match-up against UCLA and the following week against the USC Trojans to become bowl-eligible.
The last time California beat UCLA was a 28-18 victory on Nov. 30, 2019, also the Golden Bears' last win in the Rose Bowl.
The game two years ago was played in chilly, damp conditions with the smallest Rose Bowl Stadium crowd in a long, long time. Celebrating the win was difficult only because there were so few Bears or Bruin fans there, but it sure made the drive back a whole lot better.
Hope it's better than last year's Covid Bowl in the stadium of Roses. I see it as something like 34-31 Cal.