California - Miami (FL)

the Emerald Bowl Saturday, December 27th, 8:00pm San Francisco, California

Miami (FL) (7-5)______ACC______126.74 Wk Opp oPts Score 1 Charleston Southern -490.64 W, 52-7 2 Florida 472.96 L, 3-26 4 Texas A&M -153.02 W, 41-23 5 North Carolina 231.66 L, 24-28 6 Florida State 210.67 L, 39-41 7 Central Florida -175.59 W, 20-14 8 Duke -80.04 W, 49-31 9 Wake Forest 218.86 W, 16-10 10 Virginia 36.10 W, 24-17 12 Virginia Tech 274.79 W, 16-14 13 Georgia Tech 276.75 L, 23-41 14 NC State 102.87 L, 28-38

California (8-4)______Pac10_____160.52 Wk Opp oPts Score 1 Michigan State 220.54 W, 38-31 2 Washington State -320.71 W, 66-3 3 Maryland 52.23 L, 27-35 5 Colorado State -1.56 W, 42-7 6 Arizona State -95.17 W, 24-14 8 Arizona 33.99 L, 27-42 9 UCLA -139.33 W, 41-20 10 Oregon 207.78 W, 26-16 11 USC 398.66 L, 3-17 12 Oregon State 190.34 L, 21-34 13 Stanford -56.12 W, 37-16 15 Washington -422.21 W, 48-7

Both Cal & Miami had some big wins this year, the Bears over Michigan State and Oregon, and the Canes over Virginia Tech & Wake Forest. Otherwise they'd be just mediocre. Solid overall seasons though.

Stats Matchup
Team	Miami (FL)	California
Points (rank)	126.74 (#40)	160.52 (#33)
Record	7-5	8-4
Opp. Points (rank)	925.36 (#12)	68.45 (#51)
Opp. Record	77-59	72-73
Points (% of Opp. Avg)	27.9 (119%)	33.3 (122%)
dPoints (% of Opp. Avg)	24.2 (103%)	20.2 (80%)
Rush Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	130.1 (90%)	183.7 (110%)
dRush Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	146.4 (101%)	122.5 (80%)
Pass Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	197.0 (99%)	195.5 (103%)
dPass Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	169.3 (92%)	192.9 (96%)
Tot Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	327.1 (94%)	379.2 (106%)
dTot Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	315.8 (96%)	315.4 (88%)
ST Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	111.7 (97%)	141.7 (119%)
dST Yds (% of Opp. Avg)	110.3 (85%)	148.6 (120%)
Penalties / Pen. Yds	5.9 / 47.9	6.3 / 53.3
TO's / TO Margin	1.9 / -9	1.5 / +14

These two are pretty even when it comes to their stats - pretty much everything hovering around 100%. But Cal has a big edge when it comes to turnovers, +14 to -9. That might be the difference in this one.

The Line: Miami (FL) +8.5

The Call: Cal wins, but Miami covers the spread.

The Result: California 24-17

What a great game to get my picking back on track with. Riley has to be hurt for Longshore to have stayed in the whole game, playing as badly as he did. Tough break for the Hurricanes, but they're on the right track and will be even better next year.