College football Week 9: 5 teams on upset alert

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SOUTH BEND, IN – OCTOBER 21: Sam Darnold #14 of the USC Trojans looks to pass during a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium on October 21, 2017 in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame won 49-14. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

1. USC Trojans

Rank: 21, Opponent: Arizona State Sun Devils

Despite all of the press, the buzz, the fanfare and so on, it’s been the season from hell for Sam Darnold and the USC Trojans. Things have gone awry so badly through eight games that the narrative has now gone from “He’s the sure-fire No. 1 pick and taking anyone else is dumb” to “He should really stay in Los Angeles for another year and develop further.” That last bit of thinking isn’t wrong by any stretch as the Notre Dame defense made Darnold and the Trojans look pedestrian at best last week.

Given that the last time that the Trojans were knocked off they bounced back with an emphatic win over Stanford, there’s a chance that you might be expecting the same in college football Week 9. There’s no question that, at their best, they should be able to run all over the Arizona State Sun Devils. However, I’m not so sure that’s the way things play out on a late night in Tempe on Saturday.

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For one, the Sun Devils have been playing great football of late, with big back-to-back wins over Washington and then at Utah. Secondly, they get to play this game at home, where their only loss on the year was to a talented San Diego State squad early in the season. Most importantly, though, one of the biggest issues for USC this year has been run defense. And with Kalen Ballage, Demario Richard and Manny Wilkins all capable of running, Trojans could be spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E on Saturday.

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