Washington State vs. USC Total Pick
Washington State and USC will play on a short week when they meet on Friday night in L.A. With the Trojans seeking revenge from their 2017 loss in Pullman that knocked them out of the college football playoff discussion, will the game be high-scoring?
Game Snapshot
309 Washington State Cougars at 310 USC Trojans
10:30 p.m. ET, Friday, September 21
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Trojans are 3.5-point favorites to beat the Cougars. The total, meanwhile, sits at 53 points. As of this writing, 54% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Cougars.
Washington State Cougars
Graduate transfer quarterback Gardner Minshew didn’t start playing with his Washington State teammates until fall drills, but you wouldn’t know it from his production. Minshew threw for 470 yards and two touchdowns as Washington State beat Eastern Washington 59-24 on Saturday night to avenge a 2016 loss to its FCS neighbor.
“We have a bunch of new receivers and a new quarterback,” Washington State coach Mike Leach said. “All of it is tuning into one another.”
USC Trojans
USC running back Aca’Cedric Ware let loose after the 37-14 loss at Texas on Saturday, lamenting poor practice habits and a lack of offensive leadership in consecutive blowout losses.
“The one thing that I’ve learned in 24 years of coaching is your kids are going to react how you react,” USC head coach Clay Helton said. “If you don’t show leadership, if you don’t show that, ‘Hey, we understand exactly what the situation is. We understand the issues. Here’s how to fix them. Now let’s go get our jaw set and let’s go do it.’ If you don’t provide that leadership, they are not going to do it.”
Betting Trends
Washington State
The over is 5-0 in the Cougars’ last five road games and 5-1 in their last six games overall.
USC
The over is 4-1 in the Trojans’ last five home games.
Prediction
The under is 4-0 in the last four meetings between these two teams when the game is played in Southern Cal and has cashed inf our of the last five meetings between these two teams overall. As Leach noted above, the Cougars are dealing with a new quarterback and new wide receivers so they’re probably not firing on all cylinders like they could be by the end of the season and the Trojans are averaging just 5.3 yards per play with Sam Darnold now in the NFL. I don’t trust that these two teams will combine for enough points on Friday night to cash the over for bettors.
College Football Prediction: Washington State/USC under 53