Brian Covert
No. 14 California Golden Bears at New Mexico State Aggies
The line: The books have made the California Golden Bears 30-point favorites for Friday’s game against the New Mexico State Aggies. The Golden Bears failed to cover in a 41-14 win over the Aggies as 34 ½-point favorites last season. More The total: Oddsmakers have set the total for Friday night’s game at 57 ½ points.
Cal looks for complete effort
California is just hoping to put together a full 60 minutes, especially on offense. The Golden Bears have scored only 45 points in the first half, but have outscored their opponents 87-10 after halftime. That`s helped them to a 3-0 record (1-1 ATS with one win coming against Div. 1-AA Sacramento State). “Every Friday night before the game, we talk about having a complete game,” said tailback Justin Forsett. California scored 28 points in the second half last Saturday to overcome a 17-7 halftime deficit, beating the Illinois Fighting Illini 35-20 as 19 ½-point favorites. Still, the Golden Bears don’t seem overty concerned about the two-half disparity. They figure a lot of it has to do with their excellent conditioning. “We practice hard all week, we bang all week," said tackle Andrew Cameron. "That really shows up in the second half. We are conditioned for hitting all day. Games are easier than practice.”
Aggies excited about matchup
Facing seemingly insurmountable odds, the New Mexico State Aggies are just looking forward to playing on national television Friday night. “It`s definitely exciting to know that everybody around the country is going to be sitting down and watching it," said Aggies wide receiver Paul Dombrowski. But NMSU shouldn`t write themselves off so quickly. New Mexico is 4-2 both straight up and against the spread in their last six games in Las Cruces. However, the Golden Bears are a different opponent than the Middle Tennessee’s and UL Lafayette’s of the world. California is unbeaten this year (1-1 ATS) with an average margin of victory of 30.6 points. That includes a 56-17 win as a 7 ½-point faves two weeks ago in Washington.
The No. 14-ranked Golden Bears have crushed the Aggies in their only two meetings. Last year they booked a 41-14 win at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.
Vincent will start
Joey Vincent, a redshirted junior QB, will get his first start in four years for New Mexico State Friday against Cal. “I grew up watching the Pac-10, while growing up in Arizona,” said Vincent. “This is a great opportunity for me. Vincent replaces Royal Gill, who has struggled over the Aggies’ first three games, much like the rest of NMSU’s offense. The Aggies are averaging just 12.6 points per game with a majority of those points coming in the fourth quarter when the games have already been decided. “We haven’t been as productive as we’d like,” said head coach Hal Mumme. “We just have to keep working.” Humme hands the wheel over to Vincent, who saw time in last week’s loss to New Mexico, going 5-for-11 for 103 yards. “Joey did some good things Saturday and he’s a good athlete,” Mumme told reporters of his decision to start Vincent.
Bears will run
The California Golden Bears are college football’s version of the Denver Broncos. Put whoever you want in the backfield and they will produce. In the team’s first game of the year sophomore Marshawn Lynch ran for 147 yards and one touchdown in Cal’s 41-3 crushing of Sacramento State. Lynch ended up injuring his pinkie finger the following week against Washington, but California didn’t miss a beat as Marcus O’Keith rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries. Then last week another backup, the freshman Forsett, ran for 193 yards and two TDs against Illinois. It seems Forsett is the man until Lynch returns and the 5-foot-8, 180-pound freshman is salivating at the prospects of facing the Aggies. New Mexico’s run defense ranks 103rd in the country and is giving up over 216 yards on the ground per game.
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