The 2018 Cheez-It Bowl is shaping up to be one of the most difficult decisions of the 2018-19 college football bowl season, with the TCU Horned Frogs (6-6) and California Golden Bears (7-5) going head-to-head. The two sides will play at Chase Field on Dec. 26 at 9 p.m. ET, and while there's still time for this to change, the latest college football odds have this as one of the tightest spreads of all 39 bowl games. The total is at 38.5 in the latest TCU vs. California odds, with the Golden Bears set as 1.5-point favorites. Making your own TCU vs. California picks is going to be a challenge in this tight Big 12 vs. Pac-12 battle, which is why you'll definitely want to check out the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl picks and predictions from accomplished college football handicapper Zack Cimini before locking in your own selections.

The fast-rising Las Vegas prognosticator has turned a profit in every sport, but he's tremendously adept at sniffing out spread winners in college football. And when it comes to games involving California, Cimini is on an amazing 7-2 run on spread picks for or against the Golden Bears. That includes backing Cal to cover as a nine-point underdog against Washington State last month. He's also gone 20-13 in his past 33 college football picks against the spread. Anyone who has followed him is way up.

Now, Cimini is honed in on California vs. TCU, and he's studied the latest 2018 Cheez-It Bowl odds and has locked in another strong spread pick at SportsLine.

As both teams prepare for Cheez-It Bowl 2018, Cimini knows that one of the things working in TCU's favor will be a solid defense that didn't get enough credit because it ran into three of the most insane offense in the country in one season.

The Horned Frogs gave up more than 500 yards and more than 40 points to Ohio State, Oklahoma and West Virginia, but all three of those teams were top-10 in scoring offense and total offense. Against the rest of their schedule, TCU never gave up more than 31 points or 367 yards.

In fact, if you take those games out of the equation, TCU gives up just 281.7 yards per game and 17.1 points per game. Both of those numbers would rank them inside the top 10 nationally. And while you can't take away those poor performances against three of the top 16 teams in the nation, this Cal offense is not Ohio State, Oklahoma or West Virginia, and that means the TCU defense can definitely pave the way for a cover.

But just because TCU's offense features explosive playmakers doesn't mean it can stay within the Cheez-It Bowl spread over California and its dynamic defense.

Cal's Justin Wilcox was a defensive coordinator at Boise State, Tennessee, Washington, USC and Wisconsin before earning the head coaching position with the Golden Bears, and he's done wonders turning their defense around in his two seasons at the helm. In 2018, Cal allowed less than 320 yards per game, down from nearly 430 the year prior and nearly 520 the year before Wilcox arrived.

With nearly a month to prepare for TCU, he'll have his defense ready for anything at the 2018 Cheez-It Bowl. And if Cal can win the turnover battle, there's a strong chance the Golden Bears will leave Phoenix with their eighth win of the season. In fact, Cal is a perfect 3-0 when it wins the turnover battle this season.

We can tell you Cimini is leaning toward the under, but his much stronger pick is on the spread. He has studied the latest Cheez-It Bowl odds and discovered a crucial x-factor you haven't considered that he believes makes one side of the spread hit hard. He's only sharing what it is, and who to back, at SportsLine.

Who wins TCU vs. California? And what critical x-factor causes one side of the spread to hit hard? Visit SportsLine now to see Zack Cimini's Cheez-It Bowl picks, all from the college football expert who's 7-2 picking Golden Bears games, and find out.