College football preview: Predicting the first loss for every Top 25 team

College football 2018 preview: Predicting the first loss for every Top 25 team

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 01: UCF Golden Knights quarterback McKenzie Milton (10) celebrates a touchdown during the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl between the UCF Knights and the Auburn War Eagles on January 1, 2017 at Mercedes-Benz stadium in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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USC Trojans running back Stephen Carr (7) (Photo by George Walker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

After a warm-up game against UNLV, USC has back to back road games against Stanford and Texas. As discussed previously, you can expect sophomore running back Stephen Carr to pile on the yards against Texas. The Longhorns don’t appear to have an answer for Carr and USC’s other weapons on offense. Stanford is a little different story.

In six home games last season, Bryce Love averaged 185 rushing yards and just under two touchdowns. His team went 6-0 in those games. Since taking over at Stanford following Jim Harbaugh’s departure, David Shaw has built an impressive .768 overall win percentage and he’s only lost six games at home in seven years (40-6, .869 winning percentage).

USC has been the one team that’s had Shaw’s number though. Between the regular season and the Pac-12 Championship, the two teams met twice in 2017 and USC won both. One was at the Coliseum, one was a neutral site game in San Francisco and Sam Darnold threw for over 300 yards in both. Again, USC will have a first-year starting quarterback and whatever offense they can produce, Bryce Love should be more than willing to answer.