Pac 12 Gambling – Stanford vs. USC Preview
The Stanford Cardinals look to stay unbeaten as they travel into Southern California to take on the Trojans pm Saturday night.
Cardinal v Trojans
When: Saturday, 8:00 PM EST
Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California
TV: ABC, ABC Regional, ESPN3
LINE: +7.5 (USC), O/U 60
The Cardinals got here a little differently than usual, as Andrew Luck threw for a season low 169 yards a week ago. Although he still managed to put up two touchdowns.
Nevertheless, it was the running game that took the reins against Washington. They had three halfbacks that rushes for at least 93 yards, and all three had at least one touchdown as well. Anthony Wilkerson upped the ante a bit by adding two.
Stanford tallied a total of five touchdowns on the ground against the Huskies. That number is one quarter of their total number of rushing scores on the season, so it was a pretty marquee day for the Cardinal ground attack.
The Cardinals are a top ten team for a reason. They rank up near the top in most offensive and defensive categories. They are generally known for their passing attack, but it has been the running game that is more highly touted of late.
They average just under 220 yards a game on the ground. That number is good for 17th in the country. However, it isn’t to say that the passing game isn’t excellent. It is up in the top 25 nationally.
The other two Stanford stats that jump out at you have to be their point per game averages. They haven’t faced the toughest schedule to this point, but they have still put up almost 50 points a game. Good for second in the country. While their defense has allowed less than 15 per contest. Also in the top 5.
As for the Trojans, they are also coming off of a win. The difference is their win happened to come against the biggest rival that USC has in Notre Dame, so they will be riding high headed into this one. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
QB Matt Barkley is coming off of another top notch performance as well. He tossed for over 200 yards, while adding three touchdowns in the process to vault the Trojans to a 6-1 record. Sophomore Robert Woods seemed to be the target of choice for Barkley. He racked up twelve catches for 119 yards, including two scores.
While the Trojans have a nice record on the year, they don’t really have the stats to back up their 6-1 mark. In fact, in this match-up, they only have an advantage in one area. That is passing yards, and they only hold that edge by 2.2 yards per game.
They fall outside of the top 35 for all of the major stats outside of passing yards. Not really the recipe to take down a top ten juggernaut like Stanford.
Matt’s Prediction: Stanford 38,USC 24–The Trojans have benefited from an incredibly weak schedule thus far. They may possess the best win between the two teams in this one though with their win a week ago against the Irish. The stats on paper obviously favor the Cardinals., who I expect to win this one rather convincingly. Even on the road.
