SMU Mustangs vs California Golden Bears Prediction, Odds and Picks for Tomorrow, 11/29/25

SMU enters with all the shine. At 8–3 with Kevin Jennings operating at full strength, the Mustangs are positioned to reach the ACC title game and potentially reenter the playoff picture. They’ve caught momentum and the market has embraced the redemption storyline—win here, and everything remains possible. In spots like this, that public’s enthusiasm inflates the price.

But Berkeley is not a simple stopover, and Cal has the exact emotional profile that creates danger for a ranked road favorite. Strip away the Stanford collapse and the narrow loss to Virginia Tech, and the Bears would be record-wise and still remain talent-wise, comparable to SMU. Now they get a chance to ruin a contender’s season and close their own with a statement while being completely off the radar. Cal is angry and underestimated – the type of underdog that can wreak havoc on the final weekend of the regular season. The Bears have nothing to lose while SMU is the team with everything to lose. That dynamic alone keeps an outright upset remains firmly in play. But we don’t need an upset, we just need Cal and the die-hards in Berkeley to make this a game, which they can certainly do. We are grabbing the points.

SMU vs California prediction: California +13.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable to +13.