USC Trojans vs. Stanford Cardinal Betting Pick

Betting Odds

Opening Line: USC -9
Over/Under: 56

Time: 7:30 PM EST Saturday September 15, 2012 on FOX

Last season these 2 teams played one of the most exciting games of the season with Stanford coming out on top in 3 OT. However, now Andrew Luck is in the NFL while Matt Barkley decided to stay in school, which is why they are big away favorites in this game and they have good betting odds to win the National Championship. Both USC and Stanford are 2-0 and this is the first Pac 12 game for each.

This last Saturday Stanford beat Duke 50-13 and USC beat Syracuse 42-29.

This season USC is 0-2 ATS with an O/U record of 1-1 and Stanford is 1-1 ATS with an O/U record of 1-1.

Barkley torched Syracuse in the air and he has 2 great targets in Robert Woods and Marqise Lee, who has 263 receiving yards after only 2 games and he is averaging 12.5 yards per catch. Stanford did not have a problem laying a beat down on Duke in this last game, but their secondary still struggling giving up 358 yards in the air.

Stanford still has a solid run defense and they dominated the Duke rushing offense last week. RB Silas Redd had over 100 rushing yards in the win over Syracuse and he and Curtis McNeal will be tough to contain.

Josh Nunes has 400 passing yards this season and WR Ty Montgomery and TE Zach Ertz are each averaging over 12 yards per catch. The Trojans have not defended the pass well with a young secondary, but they have 4 INT in only 2 games and Nunes has to avoid the turnover.

The key player for Stanford on offense will be RB Stepfan Taylor, who has rushed for 185 yards with 2 TD this season. The USC run defense gave up 133 rushing yards in their win over Syracuse and if they can stuff Taylor they should have no problem winning this conference game. However, if Taylor can move the chains on the ground Stanford has the chance at an upset, especially if the Cardinal defense is up to the challenge of facing the dynamic USC offense.

Stanford is ranked at home facing 2nd ranked USC and in their next 4 games they face teams that are ranked in the top 25.

USC is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Pac 12 games, 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game, and they have an Under record of 5-2 in their last 7 road games against teams with a winning home record.

Stanford is 21-8 ATS in their last 29 home games, 11-2-1 ATS in their last 14 Pac 12 games, and they have an Over record of 4-1 in their last 4 games after an ATS win.

USC is only 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against Stanford and in the last 7 meetings between these teams at Stanford the posted total has gone Over 6 times.

ATS Game Pick

Stanford has owned USC in recent meetings winning the last 3. That being said, the Trojans will certainly not be taking the Cardinal lightly. Stanford is taking a big step up in competition after playing Duke and San Jose State.
Take USC -9