The dual pointing Spider-Man meme is the perfect way to describe the Boxing Day matchup between the Cal Golden Bears and the TCU Horned Frogs. The two teams’ strengths and weaknesses mirror each other in just about every way possible. Who’s Peter Parker and who is the fraud? We’ll find out in the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl.

Cheez-It Bowl Betting Odds

The Golden Bears finished the year 7-5 straight up but just 4-5 in the Pac-12 in Justin Wilcox’s second season in charge of the football program. Cal is 6-5-1 against the spread on the year and the Under is 9-3 in the team’s 12 games this season.

Cal closed the campaign out on a 5-1 ATS run and the squad is 5-2-1 ATS in its last eight non-conference battles. That’s the good news. The bad news for Bear backers? The team is 1-5 ATS in its last six neutral site games.

The Golden Bears allowed the 16th fewest yards per game in the nation. Opponents averaged just 319 offensive yards and 21.3 points per game versus Cal. The offensive forecast isn’t nearly as promising. Cal finished in the bottom 30 of the country in points per game (22.8) and yards per game (350).

TCU, as mentioned earlier, owns a very similar resume. The Horned Frogs finished 6-6 on the season and won just four of their nine Big 12 games. Gary Patterson’s group went 4-8 against the number and it produced an even Over/Under record of 6-6.

Texas Christian is 3-10 ATS in its last 13 neutral site games, 2-7 ATS in its last nine bowl games and 2-8 ATS in its last 10 games against opponents with winning records.

The Horned Frogs opened as 2-point favourites in the Cheez-It Bowl at Sports Interaction, but the spread has moved 3 points in favour of Cal. The Golden Bears enter the matchup as slim 1-point chalk.

California Golden Bears

Freshman Chase Garbers leads the Golden Bear attack – if it can be called that. The quarterback totalled 14 touchdown passes and 1413 passing yards on 241 pass attempts this season. He was picked off just seven times but he only averaged 5.9 yards per pass attempt.

Senior running back Patrick Laird should see a heavy workload in his final game with Cal. He lead in the team in rushing yards for a second straight season and he accounted for nine (rushing and receiving combined) of the team’s 28 total offensive touchdowns this year.

Texas Christian Horned Frogs

TCU is down to the third-string quarterback from its opening season depth chart. Shawn Robinson and Michael Collins are both out for the bowl game due to injuries – which leaves Grayson Muehlstein as the de facto No. 1.

Despite being a senior, Muehlstein didn’t receive his first game snaps until this season. He tossed for 328 yards and three TDs in limited action.

Even worse for TCU backers: Leader rusher Darius Anderson and starting offensive lineman Anthony Myers will both miss this game because of injuries.

Golden Bears vs. Horned Frogs Prediction