Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs California Bears Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 01/02/26

The California Golden Bears host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Friday night. Notre Dame has been on a quick California road trip, beating Stanford 47-40 earlier in the week. They will likely find a tougher opponent in Cal, a team that is off to an 11-2 start to the season, and 11-1 at home. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year (again) for Cal, but things have come together much better than anticipated, and this is a competitive and respectable team. Notre Dame is probably a bit better overall, but this game could be a matchup problem for the Irish, so I am looking for Cal to win and cover the -4.5.

Notre Dame is carried by a strong backcourt duo, and they are a team that lives and dies by the 3-pt shot. Cal defends the line well, holding opponents to about a 30% hit rate. The other thing working to the advantage of the Golden Bears is that they are excellent at taking care of the basketball, boasting a turnover rate in the top 50 in the country. Notre Dame is also among the worst defenses in the league for forcing turnovers, which means Cal should be able to maximize possessions. This looks like a spot where a couple of matchup-specific factors stick out, and those have me leaning toward the Golden Bears.

Notre Dame vs California Prediction: Cal -4.5 (-105) available at the time of publishing. Playable to -5.5.