With both USC and BYU getting big wins last week, the stakes are raised now though with No. 24 USC looking to stay unbeaten and in playoff contention.
What a week it was for the USC Trojans in week two as they knocked fellow Pac-12 program Stanford 45-20, in a game that saw true freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis break out.
Slovis threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns at an astounding 85 percent completion rate. A three-star recruit playing in the wake of the injured week one starter JT Daniels, not many saw this type of production coming from Slovis. So, it’s reasonable to say that while as great as he was last week, who knows what we’ll get out of him against the Cougars.
BYU on the other hand, bounced back with a win over Tennessee 29-26 after falling to Utah in week one. The Cougars were led by senior running back Ty’Son Williams who ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
One of these wins is not like the other though, as USC comfortably defeated a Stanford team that was ranked going into the game and BYU was victorious over a team that just lost to Georgia State.
That being said it wasn’t so comfortable for USC the entire game as they trailed the Cardinals after one quarter and looked like the same old USC. Obviously things changed though as the Trojans outscored Stanford 42-13 in the next three quarters.
If the Trojans play like they did for three quarters last Saturday night, there is no question what the outcome of the game will be. That is the question though, which USC team will we get? The one that narrowly defeated Fresno State, or the one we saw last week?
How to watch and bet on USC vs. BYU
- Date: Saturday, Sept. 14
- Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Provo, UT
- Stadium: LaVell Edwards Stadium
- TV Channel: ABC
- Odds: USC -4.5 (Bovada)
- Over/Under: 56.5 (Bovada)
- Live Stream: WatchESPN
Prediction: Obviously the oddsmakers don’t have much faith in the USC Trojans to repeat the performance from last week. If they did, this spread would be much higher. Fortunately for us though, that makes this pick pretty easy. Sure, we don’t know what we are going to get in the second start from a true freshman quarterback. Freshman tend to be weird like that sometimes, great one game and horrible the next. But something tells me that the momentum that USC gained after putting up 45 points on Stanford carries over into week three. BYU beat a bad Tennessee team last week and their inexperienced defense only plays into USC’s favor. Give me USC to cover the spread comfortably and the over.
Score: USC 41, BYU 21