Stanford at USC – College Football Predictions
The Game
It’s another edition of USC vs STANFORD and that means we get a really good idea of where a couple of the big boys in the PAC 12 stand nice and early in the season. USC struggled with Western Michigan in week one but finally pulled away in the 4th quarter winning by a score of 49-31. Stanford laid an INTERNATIONAL BEATDOWN in the Sydney Cup with a 62-7 demolition of Rice. Get cho’ popcone !
The Details
USC -5.5 STANFORD (54.5)
MEGALOCKS LINE – USC -4
“Vegas” Implied Projected Score: USC 30 Stanford 24.5
Massey Ratings Projected Score: USC 31 Stanford 24
The Match-Up
USC offense vs Stanford defense
Well it certainly was not a Heisman-style performance but QB Sam Darnold led the Trojans to 49 points and 521 yards of total offense. Darnold did not have a TD pass but USC managed to rush for 6 (!) scores. Overall they tallied 232 yards rushing and 289 yards passing. That is very similar to the great offensive balance they displayed in 2016 once Sam Darnold took over the QB duties. Stanford only allowed 241 yards in their season opener DOWN UNDER but this is just a SLIGHT rise in class going from Rice to USC. Having said that, Stanford has proven they are more than capable of slowing USC down, and ultimately bagging wins. The Cardinal only allowed 20 points per game last season and look to be REALLY good on paper in 2017. We think USC will have difficulty getting into the 30s.
Stanford offense vs USC defense
It was just a tune-up game but we liked the performance of the Cardinal in week one. They rushed for 281 yards and passed for another 369. QB Keller Chryst looked pretty good and RB Bryce Love rushed for 180 yards on just 13 carries. We worry about the USC defense handling the powerful Stanford ground game (sound familiar ?) as Western Michigan was able to SLICE and DICE their way for 263 rushing yards last week. The Broncos had an inexperienced QB at their disposal and Stanford could prove to be pretty dangerous when MATRICULATING in the passing game. It feels like USC will do well to hold Stanford under their team total.
MEGA MORSELS
Stanford is 8-3 ATS and SU vs the Trojans in their last 11 meetings……The last time here in 2015 the Cardinal SHOCKED the WORLD with a 41-31 win as almost double-digit underdogs.
Summary
We put very little stock in college football “trends”, but make no mistake, there is something spooky about the way Stanford performs against USC. The styles of the two teams have remained pretty consistent over time so we expect that Stanford will give them another good game.
Conclusion
No official play. Strong lean to Stanford at any number +6 or better. If we had a few more games to analyze for each team we probably would have made it an official play. Not gonna ASSume too much too early.