Virginia's injury list is longer, and the receivers are the worst of it. R. Flores Jr. (knee), D. Newton-Short (hamstring) and T. Ward are all listed out. RB J. Stevens, S E. Minter, DL J. Hammond and K T. Hamann are on the list too. That's a lot of missing pieces for an offense that has scored 7 points twice in its last 5 games.
The best measuring stick is the 2 opponents these teams share. Both played Wake Forest and got run over: Cal lost 41-7 at home and Virginia lost 51-7 in Winston-Salem. Both lost at SMU too. Cal gave up 59 there, while Virginia held the Mustangs to 23 but scored only 13. That's the matchup in short. Cal's defense has given up 131 points over its 3-game skid, and Virginia's offense hasn't scored more than 16 since its 28-25 win over Syracuse.
Both teams have exactly 1 recent win. Cal beat Virginia Tech 25-20 at home and Virginia beat Syracuse 28-25 at home. Neither has looked good on the road. Virginia opened October with a 38-7 loss at Florida State and lost at SMU after that. This time the Cavaliers are home and Cal is the team making the trip. Neither team has played its way to a big edge, and Virginia's main advantage might simply be staying home while Cal flies across the country again.
There's no board yet, so nothing here is a pick. It's a mid-November game between 2 teams in 3-game slides, and the winner keeps a bowl shot alive. Expect a sloppy game that matters a lot to both sides.
