2018 Cheez-It Bowl Pac 12 v Big 12
The 2018 Cheez-It Bowl is another Power Five clash pitching a disappointing 6-6 TCU against a 7-5 Cal in what has the look of a defensive slugfest. Cal boasts one of the best defences in the NCAA this year – ranked 16th overall. While TCU’s defence is rated 28th so on paper anyway this should be a low scoring game.
Results wise Cal have in our opinion better wins including against BYU who blew out Western Michigan in the Potato Bowl and of course that drudgerous 12-10 win over Rose Bowl bound Washington. They also gave a very good Washington State side plenty to think about and played pretty well in their season-ending loss to Stanford. Their only bad loss was to UCLA but that really was one of those games which included missing easy field goals and turning the ball over 5 times. Despite getting thrashed they had the same number of 1st downs and only 38 yards less on offence. Their defence tightened up after that and only gave up 34 points in their next 4 games!
TCU played in the high scoring Big 12, where Defense seemed optional this year and despite this had a poor offensive showing being rates 92nd overall. Their four conference wins came by a combined 18 points and they even managed to lose a close one against Kansas.
Overall Cal has better wins and a better defence which should be enough to sneak a narrow win in this one, giving the PAC 12 a badly needed bowl win (they went 1-8 in bowl games last season and so far are 0-1 this year)
Our prediction is for Cal by 19-13
For those who like to keep track of these things, we are 8-6 so far in our predictions.
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