NCAAF
(9/10/22) 7:30 PM Eastern.
Spread: USC -9 / Stanford +9
Moneyline: Louisville USC -330 / Stanford +275
Total: Over / Under 65
The USC Trojans head to Stanford to take on the Cardinals in Lincoln Riley’s first Pac-12 matchup. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30p.m. eastern at Stanford Stadium.
USC (1-0)
USC lit it up against Rice last week, scoring 66 points in Riley’s debut as head coach. It’s not surprising considering Riley brought in the #1 transfer class with him to help bolster what was a 4-8 team a year ago. Starters or back-ups OU went up and down the field with ease. It was the transfers that filled up the stat sheet. The leading passer, 2 of the 3 leading receivers, 3 of the 4 leading rushers, and the two leading tacklers came in through the portal. The starting defense for USC did allow Rice to score a couple of touchdowns in the first half before shutting them out in the 2nd
Stanford (1-0)
Like USC, Stanford beat up on Colgate in week 1 by a score of 41-10. NFL Prospect Tanner Mckee was an efficient 22-27 for 308 yards and 2 touchdowns. E.J. Smith, son of the NFL all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith, ran for 118 yards on just 11 touches. J Humphreys led the team with
88 receiving yards, but it was Michael Wilson that led the way with 2 receiving touchdowns. The Cardinals defense held Colgate out of the endzone the entire game, it was a muffed punt that led to their lone TD.
The Pick
Take Stanford + the points at Home. It may not be the same team from a year ago, but Stanford did beat them 42-28 in USC’s house last season. In fact, Stanford’s 6-2 ATS in their last 8 meetings with USC. The Trojan’s defense is questionable at best right now, they have a ton of new players, very little depth, and a new scheme to put in place under Alex Grinch. Despite the massive talent gap, even a non-power 5 team in Rice was able to move the ball and score a pair of touchdowns against their starting defense. Now they have to go on the road in a PAC-12 conference matchup against a potential first round NFL QB in Tanner Mckee. He’s a big, tall, strong armed QB that will have time to make throws. Stanford’s offensive line didn’t lose a single scholarship player from last year and it’s a group that features 4 Seniors up front. The outlier is a Junior at RT. Third year running back E.J. Smith brings explosiveness to the ground game, something the Cardinals have lacked ever since Bryce Love left. Stanford’s new look 4-3 defense also looked the part last week. They won’t need to do much though, this Cardinals offense that’s led by an NFL QB will be able to march up and down the field against this USC defense.
