Cal v. USC College Football Betting Odds and Lines: Don't Expect an Upset

California is a three-score underdog at USC

The handicappers in Las Vegas like the USC Trojans, and so do college football bettors.

The California Golden Bears (3-5, 1-4 Pac-12) are underdogs against the No. 9 USC Trojans (7-1, 5-1 Pac-12), according to recent college football betting odds and lines analyzed by Write for California.

---

Cal v. USC college football betting odds and lines: Who is favored to win?

The Cal v. USC college football betting odds opened between California +18 and California +21.5, according to VegasInsider.com, which aggregates and analyzes college football betting odds and lines from U.S. sportsbooks.

The first sportsbook in the U.S. to accept wagers on Cal v. USC was the Circa Sportsbook, which put up a California +18 line this past Sunday, Oct. 30, at 11:11 a.m. Pacific.

The latest college football betting odds for Cal v. USC as of Saturday morning is California +21.5, which implies the California Golden Bears will lose by about 21 points against the USC Trojans on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The total for Cal v. USC is between 60.5 and 61 points, according to VegasInsider.com, which is a slight increase from the open.

This past Sunday, the Circa Sportsbook accepted “over-or-under” total score bets at 58.5 points. Other U.S. sportsbooks opened with totals between 57.5 and 59.5, per VegasInsider.com.

Cal v. USC college football: What you should know

Bettors overwhelmingly back the USC Trojans, which might be no surprise, as the California Golden Bears have not had any recent momentum lately.

The Golden Bears have lost four games in a row, including a defeat against bottom-of-the-conference Colorado and a blowout last week against Oregon.

In contrast, No. 9 USC bounced back last week with a 45-37 victory at Arizona after a close 42-43 defeat to then-No. 20 Utah the week prior.

Analysis of “moneyline” bets placed by VegasInsider.com shows that 99% of all dollars wagered have been on the USC Trojans, despite the unfavorable odds.

The most recent moneyline is USC -1932 as of Saturday morning, per VegasInsider.com, which requires a $1,932 bet on the Trojans to win $100.

Las Vegas handicappers have earned their paychecks as the number of point-spread bets on the game are nearly equal: 54% of spread bets have been on the USC Trojans. However, 78% of all money bet has been on the Trojans.

USC is 5-3 against the spread compared to Cal’s 3-4 record against the spread in the 2022 college football season.