25 games that will shape the 2019 College Football Playoff

Week 2: USC at Stanford

Most conferences typically ease into the conference schedule and save the biggest matchups for later in the year. The Pac-12 schedules USC and Stanford for September every year.

USC beat Stanford twice last year, once in the regular season and again in the Pac-12 Championship. Prior to 2017 though, the Cardinal were riding a three-game win streak against their conference rival from the south.

The Trojans will likely have a freshman quarterback in JT Daniels starting and this year. He’ll have a trial by fire playing on the road at Stanford in Week 2. He’ll have a first-year starter at running back in Stephen Carr with him and the defense, replacing several new starters, will have plenty of players getting their first Pac-12 road game experience at Stanford. Stanford head coach David Shaw will also be replacing a quarterback but he’ll have the services of Heisman favorite Bryce Love at running back coming off of the 2,118-yard season.

The Pac-12 Championship has featured one of these two teams four times in the last seven years, twice matching them against one another. It could very well be the biggest game between Pac-12 North and South teams in 2018 and at the very least, it should go a long way to decide who lands a spot in the conference title game.