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UCLA v. USC Football Odds & Picks

Written by Jimmy Boyd

With a little help from Oregon beating rival Oregon State last week, the USC Trojans are now on their familiar Rose Bowl path. The Trojans put another beating on non-conference rival Notre Dame to improve to 10-1 on the season. The Trojans are 7-1 in the Pac-10 with sole possession of first place and that’s where it looks like they’ll end up as odds makers have listed USC as 33-point favorites with the total set at 47.5.

The books don’t foresee 4-7 UCLA being a major obstacle for the Trojans this week. It should be another chance for the vaunted defense to flex its muscles, as the Bruins are coming off a loss to Arizona State in which the Sun Devils scored four touchdowns on defense. The scary part is that ASU isn’t even a good defensive football team. USC’s defense was truly dominant against the Irish last week, not allowing a first down until the final play of the third quarter. The Irish didn’t cross midfield until early in the final period. Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen threw for only 41 yards on 22 pass attempts. USC linebacker Kaluka Maiava, lesser mentioned because of All-America linebacker candidates Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing, had a big game with a team-high five stops and an interceptions. USC leads the nation in four defensive categories, including total defense and scoring defense. The Trojans are allowing only 210.55 yards per game and just 7.82 points per game. If USC’s offense was equally good in comparison to its defense, this would be one of the best teams in the history of college football easily.

Offensively, running back Joe McKnight has not looked like Reggie Bush as often as people expected this season. He showed what he is capable of last week with a 55-yard touchdown run against Notre Dame. QB Mark Sanchez is yet to get things completely figured out and was intercepted twice against the Fighting Irish. The offense is far from perfect but the defense has been there to bail out the Trojans all season long. If you think the defense will continue to do so, bet USC at -33 at BetUS.

The Trojans have been beaten as heavy favorites in each of the past two seasons by Stanford and by Oregon State. UCLA will ride the hope of those two teams went it tries to pull off a miraculous upset Saturday. If the Bruins can find a way to win, it can make things rather messy in the Pac-10. A USC loss, would create a three-way tie for first between USC, Oregon State, and Oregon and in that scenario, Oregon State would win the tie breaker to go to the Rose Bowl.

This scenario looks highly unlikely after the pathetic performance that saw the Bruins go down 34-9 at Arizona State last week. The Sun Devils scored four defensive touchdowns to turn the game into a rout despite gaining only 122 total yards of offense. UCLA will not be able to afford those kinds of mistakes against the best defense in college football.

The good new for the Bruins is that its defense was pretty good last week. The UCLA front put plenty of heat on ASU QB Rudy Carpenter to shut down the Sun Devil attack. Cornerback Michael Norris played played great on the backend with three pass breakups, an interception, and six stops. This defense has the potential to come up big against a USC offense that has had its fair share of problems this season.

QB Kevin Craft is going to have to make much better decisions this week to give his team a fighting chance. UCLA football betting backers have been killed by Craft of late as he has thrown 12 picks without a touchdown in the last four games. Craft has tied a single-season school record with 19 interceptions. This is a rivalry game though and I expect to see the Bruins deliver their best effort of the season. If you think that effort will be good enough to get the Bruins the cover, bet UCLA at BetUS.

Beat the college football odds will be a cinch this week when you tail Jimmy Boyd’s award winning college football picks!

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