The pick: Why Washington State will beat Cal

PULLMAN – We could track down the statistics, list all the matchup advantages and compile the supporting evidence to back up our belief that No. 10 Washington State will cruise past Cal tonight at Martin Stadium, improve to 8-1 on the season and 5-1 in the Pac-12, and continue to rise up the College Football Playoff rankings. Or we could just point to a single number that would tell us most of what we need to know about the Pac-12 North matchup – at the very least, how it’ll conclude: 49. Jeff Faraudo of “Cal Bears Maven” dug through the school’s record books to discover that the Golden Bears haven’t defeated an Associated Press top-10 team on the road since 1969 – 49 years. As Faraudo points out, somewhere in the ballpark of 18,000 days. Cal’s had 37 opportunities during that stretch. Aside from a 15-15 tie in 1974 at USC, the Golden Bears have lost ’em all. Five decades of futility for Cal against top-10 teams on the road will continue Saturday night, as will WSU’s magical 2018 season.

The pick: Washington State 28, Cal 14.