College Football Game of the Week – #3 USC Trojans vs. #8 Ohio State Buckeyes

Saturday, September 12
Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH
8 p.m. EST

NCAA Betting Line: USC -6 ½ (over/under 45 ½)

The Ohio State Buckeyes will once again look to prove they belong among the nation’s elite as they tangle with the USC for the second straight year, hoping for a better result than last year’ 35-3 debacle.

In that game at USC Trojans, the only player who looked like he belonged on the field with USC for Ohio State’s offense at times was Terrelle Pryor, the freshman QB who took over for Todd Boeckman (Beanie Wells didn’t play in the game also).

Pryor has a year of seasoning in the Buckeyes’ system now, and the Buckeyes will need a breakthrough, coming out party-type of performance from Pryor to beat the Trojans this time around.

The Trojans are the favorite this time around, but they also are 1-4 against the spread in their past five road games, they have to travel a long way to get to Ohio Stadium, and they’re also bringing with them a freshman QB in Matt Barkley to one of the most hostile environments in all of college football.

The key to this game will be for Ohio State to avoid giving up the big play and to possess the ball against USC. Jim Tressel and his staff need to get more creative on offense as they seemingly haven’t quite figured out how to use their talents in the spread offense yet.

OSU’s defensive line should be able to get to Barkley at times as it is the strength of the team, but whether they can cover Joe McKnight and co. out of the backfield on checkdowns is going to be another telling aspect of this game.

In the end, expect USC to just barely cover the spread on the strength of their secondary shutting down OSU’s average receivers and winning by a touchdown, and expect a higher-scoring game than usual as Pryor does his best Vince Young impression and racks up some yards on the ground.

The Buckeyes have a real shot to pull the upset, but it’s hard to ignore USC’s history of handling just about every top team they come across, from Auburn to Oklahoma to Ohio State and the rest of the Big Ten.

NCAA Free Pick : USC (-6 ½) and the over (45 ½)