College Football Preview: USC Ready For Their ‘Rose Bowl’ Against Oregon

The Trojans are barred from the post-season and can’t win the Pac-10 title. That means there will be no bigger game this year for USC than Saturday’s clash with the Ducks.

An Offensive Feast
Lane Kiffin may not have too many friends in coaching circles but he sure knows how to run an offense. Having lost their luster in the final year of Pete Carroll’s successful reign, the Trojans’ skill position players are on fire in 2010. With the #22 passing offense and #18 running game, USC have shown they can dominate opponents both on the ground and through the air. The one concern at Southern Cal is the defense. Monte Kiffin, a renowned defensive innovator and Lane’s father, hasn’t found a way to adapt his defense to deal with the spread-option yet.

That’s quite a big problem when faced with a spread-option attack like Oregon’s. College Football betting fans have marveled at the Ducks as they have averaged 55.1 points per game, making them the #1 scoring offense in the country. The Ducks defense remains an unknown quantity. While only giving up 15.9 points per game so far, Oregon have only met one elite offense so far this season. That was Stanford, who lost a 52-31 shootout to the Ducks at the start of October.

Saturday presents a different test entirely. Stanford were playing Oregon in the hopes of making it to Pasadena. As far as USC are concerned, this is the closest they will get to the Rose Bowl in 2010. The Trojans’ post-season bowl ban means Lane Kiffin will have targeted this game as the primary objective for the season. If his team can’t win a national title, the next best thing is stopping a contender from winning one either. There’s also the small matter of payback for last season’s stomping in Autzen Stadium. I like the USC Trojans as +7.0 underdogs with Sports Interaction and I love the over of +70.0. Don’t expect a defensive battle. Both of these teams should score a lot of points.

Irish need to be ready for a shootout
If last week’s blowout defeat taught us anything, it’s that Notre Dame’s defense is not getting fixed this season. That means the offense will be under tremendous pressure to put up big points right up to the end of the year. This Saturday’s clash with Tulsa would, ordinarily, be seen as a guaranteed victory for Notre Dame but the Hurricanes offense is ranked #13 in scoring nationally.

Most of those points have been scored against weak opponents but the Fighting Irish will still need to prepare for a shootout. After last week’s debacle, Notre Dame will most likely be more disciplined against their Conference USA opponents this week. That extra focus will probably be enough to ensure the Fighting Irish pull away in the third quarter. Bet on Notre Dame as -8.5 favorites with Sports Interaction.