A battle of Pac 12 teams out west takes place Saturday night when the USC Trojans play host to the Stanford Cardinal. The game is scheduled for a 8:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on ABC. Currently the odds for the game have USC favored by a comfortable margin to pick up the win.
USC heads into this one ranked sixth in the country, having beaten up on Arkansas Sate and Idaho. While those two teams aren’t obvious big time programs, USC has still looked damned good against both.
Quarterback Cody Kessler has thrown seven touchdowns and completed nearly 80 percent of his passes through two games, throwing for 650 yards as well. The Trojans have also dominated their opponents with the ground game, piling up an average of almost seven yards a carry and scoring eight touchdowns.
Stanford looked very bad in their opener, losing to Northwestern on the road. They kicked only two field goals in that game, but only surrendered 16 points as well. The Stanford defense has been probably the best overall part of the team to date, allowing an average of just 11.5 points per game and 255 yards on average to both Northwestern and Central Florida.
USC is more than double that, rolling to 623 yards of total offense per game on average. Dating back to the final two games of last year, which included wins over Notre Dame and Nebraska in the bowl game, USC is averaging 52 points per game, which is very impressive.
This is the conference opener for both schools and these two have played some close games the past few years, the last five have been decided by right around a touchdown. Stanford is going to have to play solid defense to have any chance of slowing USC down. The Cardinal will have to minimize miscues and not turn the football over, plus try to control the line of scrimmage.
That seems like an awful lot to do, on the road.
Free Pick: USC
$25 of picks FREE! No Obligation - No Credit Card Required - Becoming a member is Fast and Free!
Stay on top of the latest odds and line moves for MLB Season with our real-time odds from Las Vegas and offshore!