2. Stanford Cardinal
Rank: 10 | Opponent: No. 17 USC | Start Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
To say that things went perfectly for the USC Trojans in the debut of true freshman starting quarterback JT Daniels would be a lie. They started slowly and were only up by five points against UNLV going into the locker room at halftime. However, as you’d hope for with a young team that boasts the talent that the Trojans do, they pulled themselves up and got it together, scoring 24 fourth-quarter points to pull away from the Rebels and notch a big win.
Slow starts are a thing that the Stanford Cardinal can relate to. In their season-opening matchup against San Diego State, the 10th-ranked team in the country went down 7-0 after the first quarter, and then only went up 9-7 going into halftime. In the end, the Cardinals pulled away and won the game, 31-10. Having said that, it was clear they were far from untouchable.
Despite getting the job done, the most troublesome thing for Stanford in the win was the performance of Bryce Love. The 2017 Heisman Trophy finalist looked like a player who had no chance of sniffing that conversation this season. He finished the game with only 18 carries for 29 yards.
Given the quality of USC and, more importantly, how critical Love is to the Cardinal offense, that could be trouble for Stanford this week. There is a viable possibility that the book is out on Love and he can no longer be the player he was last season. If that is the case and it shows up against USC, the Trojans will surely notch an early signature win.