2016 – 2017 Football Season Preview For NCAAF And NFL California Teams

With the NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL in the USA, you're going to find well over a hundred professional sporting franchises that are located all throughout the nation. However, there's one state that has more pro teams than anyone, and they're still crying for more: California. No matter how many pro teams Cali gets, it still manages to want more. Even collegiate teams pop up in the Golden State all the time, and you have entire conferences in the NCAA that are built around the many different teams you'll find in collegiate sports in California alone. With so many different football teams in California, it can be tough to keep track of them. So, we're going to help you run through some of those teams on this site. We're going to give you a season preview and breakdown of the most popular teams in the NFL and in the NCAA which should ultimately help you make more informed decisions when you get down on some sports betting in California.

Whether you need this information to help you make winning bets, or if you're just a casual fan who would like to know about the state of football in California, hopefully we can deliver some great information for you right here. Let's start things off by taking a look at the collegiate landscape.

A Look at the 2016 USC Trojans

Let's just lead out with the bad news here and not beat around the bush. Unfortunately for you Trojan fans out there, USC is going to likely to be a step behind after the first game of the season. Although it's a home game, and although the Trojans are putting a decent team onto the field, their first game this season is going to be against the Alabama Crimson Tide, and Alabama will likely win with stifling defense and a ball-control offense that the Trojans' D won't be able to get off the field. USC won't have much time to bounce back after that. After the next week against Utah State, they're right back into the fire against the Stanford Cardinal, last year's Pac-12 champion. The Trojans do get some of their talent back with Jacob Daniel, Rasheem Green, Christian Rector, Kevin Scott, and a few other solid players. But they're also lost a lot and the schedule isn't doing them any favors at all.

For as much as USC fans are really hoping that this is their year, the fact of the matter is that the deck is stacked against this team. They will be able to put out a quality offensive product thanks to their returning talent, but their defense is going to be very young and inexperienced. And having to play Alabama, Stanford, Oregon, UCLA and Notre Dame, likely is the case that the Trojans are looking at a three-loss season, out of contention for the Pac-12 championship. It's not impossible that they'll shock the world and beat Alabama and then crush Stanford, but you shouldn't bet on it. The odds are against the Trojans this season.

A Look at the 2016 UCLA Bruins

The next of California's teams we'll look at are the UCLA Bruins. You might not know this, but one of the only reasons that March Madness and college basketball are so huge today is that the Bruins were all the rage decades ago and really put college basketball on the map, at a time where the ABA (professional ball) was really struggling. Though when it comes to football, the Bruins have never really hit their stride. The Bruins were 9-5 last season, which in any other sort of sport or set-up isn't bad at all. But seeing as the National Champion in college football typically only has one loss, and the conference champions typically only have two losses at best, it's hard for UCLA to compete in this climate. Unfortunately, they're not a very good recruiting school. They had a few impressive wins last season, like over the Virginia Cavaliers, The UNLV Rebels, the BYU Cougars, and Arizona Wildcats, all in consecutive weeks, but then they started falling off. They lost to the AS Sun Devils, then got crushed by Stanford, then losses to Washington State and USC put them in the Foster Farms Bowl against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, where they lost again.

Boding well in their favor, the Bruins are starting sophomore Josh Rosen at QB, who had an impressive freshman season, and they have a great offensive line, spearheaded by the All Pac-12 stud Conor McDermott. However, their defensive line is very mediocre and teams run up the score on the Bruins very easily. While many predict the Bruins' defense will be a surprise and will be good, we're of a different opinion here at California Sports Betting. We're all about the odds. And the odds here suggest that the Pac-12's offensive-heavy, high-flying, big-scoring brand of ball will put the Bruins in the same position, where they'll likely go 8-4 again and then get a modest bowl game. (9-5 after last season's bowl loss; 8-4 in Pac-12 regular season.)

A Look at the 2016 Stanford Cardinals

Jim Harbaugh and Andrew Luck are long gone and are now only memories in Stanford lore, so the team wasn't expected to do that much last season. And that was legitimized early on when the Cardinal lost their first game of the season to the Northwestern Wildcats 16-6, showing no offense at all. However, Stanford was able to really turn things around, and their offense started clicking. Of course, having the unstoppable Christian McCaffrey also worked wonders for the team. Over the course of the season, the Cardinal slowly chipped away at the Pac-12, and with only one more division loss against the Oregon Ducks, they ended up in the championship game against the USC Trojans, where they mopped the floor with them and won the Pac-12 Championship. They got a great bowl game, the Rose Bowl, and beat the Iowa Hawkeyes convincingly. So, the world is basically on notice now and it's looking like Stanford is a huge contender in the Pac-12.

We're going to hedge our bets here to help you out. You see, we predict Stanford doing great things if Keller Chryst ends up as their QB, whereas Ryan Burns getting the job will really be a thorn in the Cardinal's side this year. If they can put Keller out there with McCaffrey, then they're likely to do very well and perhaps even give Oregon a run for their money. We're predicting the same for Stanford this year in terms of record. We see them losing two games, only later in the year this time. However, the entire Pac-12 will be better around them, and we won't see the Cardinal playing for the championship.

A Look at the 2016 California Golden Bears

The California Golden Bears weren't much of a contender in the Pac-12 last season, going 4-5 in the division, but no one wanted to play them. They had a stud quarterback named Jared Goff who would make every single throw there is to make, and who really lit up a lot of teams for big points all year. Of course, Jared's great season made him the #1 pick of the Los Angeles Rams, and so it looks like the Cal Bears are starting from scratch on offense. Cal started out 5-0 last season until hitting a rough patch of four consecutive losses. In all honesty, going off of pure numbers, we cannot see things improving much this season. With an unproven QB at the helm, mediocre receiving talent, and a defense that's put together like Swiss cheese, we can see Cal losing two more games than they lost last season.

When you break things down in a division like the Pac-12, you have to realize that some teams are going to do well, while others do poorly; and it's those that do well that typically feast on those poorer teams. At least for this season upcoming, what we see is that the Golden Bears are going to be one of those weaker teams. Maybe they'll shock everyone and end up with a great record, but we wouldn't recommend that you bet on that outcome. Cal will likely be the bottom rung of the Pac-12.

A Look at the Mountain West Conference

The California collegiate football teams certainly don't stop at the Pac-12. There are also quite a few over in the Mountain West Conference, part of the group of 5 that rests outside of the power five of Pac-12, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and ACC. You have the California State University Bulldogs, the San Diego State University Aztecs and the San Jose State University Spartans. All these teams are D1 teams, and all could technically end up in the College Football Playoff. However, seeing as they're Go5 teams and not power teams, the odds are astronomical against such a berth. In order for one of these California Go5 teams to get to the CFP and take up one of the spots, one of two things would have to happen: 1) You would have to see every conference champion in the power five with at least two losses, and a one-loss or undefeated Mountain West champion with at least one quality win over a power conference school. 2) The Big 12 would have to get off its butt, institute a championship game, and lobby for the playoffs to include 8 spots. With this, you'd get five spots via every one of the power five champions, and then the Go5 could fill up at least two of the remaining spots with champions from the Mountain West, MAC, American, etc.

As it stands going into this season, your best bet likely rests with the San Diego State Aztecs. They won last season and we see no real hiccups this season that would keep them from another win. The only real competitive Pac-12 match-up they're going to have is against the Cal Golden Bears. And if they can win that, or even if they lose and clean up elsewhere, the high-powered Aztecs offense should be right back in the championship game on December 3.

2016 NFL Teams In California

The San Francisco 49ers

It might not seem like it at this juncture, but the 49ers are actually the most recognizable team from California playing in the NFL. That's because of the four Super Bowls they won when Joe Montana was their QB, and then one when Steve Young was their starting QB. These days, however, the 49ers are hurting a little bit for talent. They went out and hired coach Chip Kelly, who was fresh off of being fired in Philly, to coach their hundred-million-dollar man Colin Kaepernick at the QB spot. Sadly for San Fran fans, Torrey Smith and Quinton Patton aren't exactly big-time targets. We're not talking about Jerry Rice and TO in San Fran anymore. To make matters worse for the 49ers, they don't really have a single recognizable name on defense, and they play in a division where any team can easily beat them. Things aren't looking very good for for the 49ers this season. We see them tipping the scales at a whopping 5-11, so you might want to avoid betting on them.

The Oakland Raiders

The Raiders might just end up being the top team in California this season. They have an impressive stable of young talent and have gotten away from the Al Davis journeymen model of putting together a team with a median age of 35. While they're still all about that big-air offense, they're doing it now with young players like Derek Carr at the QB position and Amari Cooper playing wide receiver. They also have a pretty stout defense with the likes of Khalil Mack and their newest addition from Seattle, linebacker Bruce Irvin. With Denver taking a step back in the division, and that other Californian team not having much of a defense at all in San Diego, the Raiders might be able to win 11 or 12 games and lock up the AFC West this season.

The San Diego Chargers

As we mentioned briefly above, the Chargers don't have much to speak of in the way of defense. They've just never made it a priority in the Philip Rivers era to put together a stout D. They do have a powerful offense, however. Not only do they have Philip Rivers playing great football, but he's throwing to some impressive talent in Stevie Johnson, Keenan Allen and Antonio Gates. Where the Chargers have been failing for the past few seasons is in the second half of football games. For instance, a few times they've played division teams like Denver and Oakland, and they've had them dead to rights for the first 30 minutes. But in the second half, San Diego's defense simply gives out and teams are able to get on the scoreboard too quickly and too often. Unfortunately for Chargers fans, we cannot see this trend reversing overnight. We're looking at another very talented team that will underachieve in terms of record. Look for a solid .500 performance from the Chargers, but certainly nothing worth betting on.

The Los Angeles Rams

Los Angeles had the Raiders for years and couldn't do much of anything. Their attendance numbers were pitiful. They couldn't land any big-time endorsements. The stadium was treated like a garbage bin. All in all, LA didn't respect its NFL team. But as soon as the Raiders went back to Oakland, Hollywood started crying and complaining that they needed an NFL franchise. While many states in America don't have a single NFL team, California now has four. Luckily for California, the Rams moving out west does coincide with a reinvigorated roster. For instance, Todd Gurley from Georgia is a stud RB, and he's going to be very exciting to watch. And now that they have the NFL Draft's #1 pick in Jared Goff out of Cal, former school of Aaron Rodgers, they might have a serious passing attack in the future. For right now, the Rams have been an exciting team to watch when they're played Seattle or San Fran or Arizona. They're liable to win one of those games, while turning around and losing by 30 to the Cleveland Browns. It's impressive how inconsistent the Rams have been. Hopefully with this new injection of offensive talent, the Rams can show more consistency and get their win total up to around 9 or 10.