California Golden Bears vs North Texas Mean Green Prediction, Picks and Game Preview - 09/02/2023

Game Time: 4:00 pm ET, Saturday, September 2, 2023

Venue:  DATCU Stadium, Denton, TX

Where to Watch:  ESPNU

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  Cal -7, UNT +7; Over/Under:  56.5 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  Cal -7, UNT +7; Over/Under:  56.5 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  Cal -7, UNT +7; Over/Under:  56.5 points

California Golden Bears:  0-0 (Pac-12)

North Texas Mean Green:  0-0 (AAC)

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California Golden Bears:  N/A

North Texas Mean Green:  N/A

California finished last season with a 4-8 record overall and they had a 2-7 record in their conference games too.  They were 4-3 in their home games, 0-5 in their road games, and they were also 0-0 in their neutral site games last season, but they will be on the road for this season opener. Last season, their offense was averaging 23.9 points scored per game while their defense was allowing an average of 27.8 points per game. Their offense also averaged 364.6 yards per game while their defense was allowing an average of 428.6 yards per game. Jack Plummer led the team in passing yards with 3119, Jaydn Ott led the team in rushing yards with 897, and Jeremiah Hunter led the team in receiving yards with 965.

 

 

 

North Texas finished last season with a 7-7 record overall and they had a 6-2 record in their conference games too.  They were 5-1 in their home games, 2-5 in their road games, and they were also 0-1 in their neutral site games last season, but they will be at home for this season opener. Last season, their offense was averaging 33.8 points scored per game while their defense was allowing an average of 31.7 points per game. Their offense also averaged 461.8 yards per game while their defense was allowing an average of 459.9 yards per game. Austin Aune led the team in passing yards with 3547, Ayo Adeyi led the team in rushing yards with 807, and Roderic Burns led the team in receiving yards with 676.

The current betting odds have North Texas listed as a 7 point underdog in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. North Texas finished last season with a 7-7 record overall and they were really good in their conference games going 6-2 in those. Now they have moved to a new conference and they will be looking to have a good start to their season in the AAC now. They were a really good home team last season too as they went 5-1 there and they find themselves as an underdog at home in this 1st game of the season against a team who didn't win a single road game last year. California hasn't been a good team for years now and they didn't do any better last season as they were 4-8 overall and 2-7 in their conference games. They were also 0-5 in their road games and haven't done much in the transfer portal to improve their team this season so they are still going to struggle in this road game against a very good home team. North Texas was also averaging close to 34 points on offense per game which is 10 more than Cal was averaging last season and Cal also allowed more points per game than they were scoring. North Texas has a new head coach here but he is stepping into a program that had a really good season last year and they will be eager to start their season on a good note with an upset win in their new conference. The best way to place a bet here is on North Texas to cover the spread in this game. 

California North Texas Prediction:  Our NCAAF Pick for Saturday, September 2, 2023 (4:00 pm ET start time) is North Texas 31 California 21.

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California Golden Bears: 17-39 ATS as a road favorite. 7-25 ATS as a road favorite of 7 points or less. 26-18 UNDER as a road favorite. 20-13 UNDER in a road game where the total is between 56.5 and 63. 

North Texas Mean Green: 17-10 ATS in all games. 16-9 ATS in games played on turf. 4-0 ATS against Pac Twelve conference opponents. 12-7 UNDER as a home underdog of 3.5 to 7 points. 6-3 UNDER in the first month of the season.

California Golden Bears:  K. Doerue (RB) Doub Sat - Undisclosed. J. Williams-Thomas (RB) Doub Sat - Undisclosed. B. Cardwell (RB) out for season - Undisclosed.

North Texas Mean Green:  None.

“It’s just a new era — it’s different. You have so many new faces from where we were a year ago. But it’s exciting, too, because the dynamics change, the competitiveness certainly increased at a number of spots. And then the personalities and you kind of learn who you’re going to be.” - Justin Wilcox on his team coming into this new college football season.

“I always used to tell my wife that my dream job was being an FBS coach in the state of Texas. She would ask which school. I always told her I didn’t care. I just wanted to get here. The feeling and the buy-in from the state of Texas with football is different.” - Eric Morris on his excitement for being the new head coach of UNT.

WR Hunter, Jeremiah 

WR Grizzell, Trond 

WR Young, Monroe 

TE Endries, Jack 

QB Jackson V, Sam 

RB Ott, Jaydn 

FB Alfieri, Andy 

WR Maclin, Ja'Mori 

WR Cleveland, Trey 

WR Burns, Roderic 

WR Smart, Jordan 

TE Lee, Christian 

QB Earle, Stone 

RB Adaway III, Oscar 

Passing: N/A

Rushing: N/A

Receiving: N/A

Touchdowns: N/A

Passing: N/A

Rushing: N/A

Receiving: N/A

Touchdowns: N/A

Coaches:

California Golden Bears: Justin Wilcox (7th season)

North Texas Mean Green: Eric Morris (1st season)