USC at Cal Spread
The USC Trojans are scheduled to play the California Golden Bears in a PAC-12 game this Thursday. In their last game, the Trojans defeated Arizona by a margin of 48-41, a result that put their overall season record to a respectable figure of 4-1 and their in-conference record to 2-1. They had the last week off, which means that they have had plenty of time to get themselves ready for the Golden Bears.
California was in action last weekend, but it was a game to forget for them. They led Oregon 15-14 at halftime, but suffered a total meltdown afterwards. They couldn’t score in the second half and eventually managed to lose the game 43-15. After that defeat, their overall and conference records fell to 3-2 and 1-2, respectively.
The Trojans have won all of the last six games of this series, which also includes a dominating 48-14 home victory last season.
Bookmakers have installed USC as favorites of 3 points against California.
USC Trojans
The last time the Trojans were in action, their offense was in full flow against Arizona. Matt Barkley registered his best performance of the season in that game – throwing 468 yards and four TDs. He and second-year wide out Robert Woods showed impressive coordination, with Woods catching 14 passes for 255 yards and two TDs. Barkley also enjoyed a good performance from freshman wide out Marquise Lee, who caught 8 passes for 144 yards and one TD.
The Trojans’ attack is at its best when they take to the air, which is the 15th best passing offense in the country – averaging 317.8 passing yards per game. They’re not bad at running the football, but have just four rushing touchdowns so far this season.
USC’s next test is against a Cal team that has conceded 74 points in their last two games – defeats against Washington and Oregon. This means that the Golden Bears team defense will be lacking confidence and it would be a perfect opportunity for USC’s offense to showcase their skills.
California Golden Bears
After a quick look at the final score of California’s last game, it seems that they really found it hard to move the ball. In reality, they had 465 yards of total offense, but choked in the red zone. Their average of 34.6 points per game is still pretty healthy, which suggests that scoring shutdown against the Ducks was an aberration for them.
In that lopsided affair last week, the Golden Bears’ quarterback Zach Maynard threw for 218 yards and one TD. While a good number of his throws were great, the ones he missed were well off target. His inconsistency was a major part of California’s problems against Oregon.
In spite of his accuracy issues, Maynard’s throws have been intercepted only three times this year, which indicates that he may not be everything that is wrong with his team. He just has to throw the ball towards Cali’s trio of skilled players and their offense should be fully operational once again. The wide out duo of Keenan Allen and Marvin Jones has grabbed 68 catches for 1,109 yards and seven TDs, while their running back Isi Sofele has 91 carries to his credit for 499 yards along with four TDs.
USC’s defense is also in a state of struggle at the moment, which could allow California’s offense to have a relatively easier time against them than they had last week. With an average of 26.4 points allowed to their opponents, USC has a country-wide ranking of 67th in points allowed. In their recent games, they allowed both Arizona State and then Arizona to score 43 and 41 points, respectively. Their biggest problem is dealing with the passing offense of their opponents as they are currently allowing 267.2 yards on average in every game.
Betting Trends
When playing an away game as favorites of 3.5-10.0, the Trojans are 10-2 ATS in their last 12 outings.
When facing a side with a winning away record, the Golden Bears are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 game on home turf.
