Thursday, May 24th, 2012
The USC Trojans off their road victory at Notre Dame returns to Pac 10 play when they host the Oregon St Beavers in a college football game on Saturday night. Kick off at the LA Coliseum is scheduled for 8PM Eastern Time with regional television coverage provided by ABC. The LVSC college football odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and the USC Trojans opened as a 20-point favorite. The early money from the college football betting public has come in on the favorite, as the USC Trojans are currently a 21-point favorite. College football money line bettors can make a play on the favored USC Trojans at –1700 with the road underdog Oregon St Beavers returning +1100 to win without the need of getting points.
USC will be out for revenge in this spot following their 27-21 loss at Oregon St on a Thursday Night game last season. It was the Trojans only loss of the season and cost them a spot in the National Championship game. You better believe the Trojans defense will be ready in this meeting with Beavers running back Jacquizz Rodgers. Rodgers rushed for 186 yards on 37 carries in last years meeting. The Trojans defense defended California Golden Bear stud running back Jahvid Best a few weeks back limiting him to 47 yards on 14 carries. Trojans quarterback Matt Barkley had a good game last week at Notre Dame completing on 19 of 29 for 380 yards two touchdowns and an interception last week. Barkley will be passing on an Oregon St passing defense that is ranked 9th in the Pac 10 and giving up 275 yards passing per game and have allowed 11 passing touchdowns this season. Oregon St’s secondary has only 3 interceptions on the season. Joe McKnight was just average last week at Notre Dame with just 79 rushing yards on 19 carries for just 4.2 yards per carry average. This is a game that will fall in the passing arm of Matt Barkley. Oregon St is 4-2 on the season and are winners of two straight including a win at Arizona St and home to Stanford. Oregon St struggled against the two tough defensive teams on their schedule losing home games to Cincinnati and Arizona. Oregon St could not crack 4 yards per carry average in neither games against Cincinnati and Arizona. After watching Jimmy Clausen pass crazy on the Trojans last week you could expect the Beavers to throw the ball a bit more. Beavers starting quarterback Sean Canfield has been accurate on the year hitting on 68% of his passes for 8 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on the season. Canfield has been able to move the team through the air but had one bad game at Arizona where he passed for 2 interceptions. The senior quarterback Canfield was not under center in Oregon St’s win over USC last season. Sophomore running back Jacquizz Rodgers takes the bulk of the carries for the Beavers and he has rushed 128 times for 697 yards and 5.4 yards per carry average. In his game against the great run defense of Cincinnati Rodgers could only muster 73 yards on 20 carries for 3.7 yards per carry average. USC is second in the Pac 10 in rushing defense allowing just 2.07 yards per carry average.
Tony T’s Opinion: The question in this game is how much has Sean Canfield developed? He will be facing a fierce pass rush with the Trojans defense and can he continue to deliver a completion percentage well into the 60’s? This could be a dangerous game for the Trojans because if Canfield can move the team on offense through the air then will it open up rushing opportunities for Jacquizz Rodgers. USC may not be able to stack the line like they did against Cal because Canfield has shown the ability to be accurate with his passes. I am not going to lay the points with USC in this game and I don’t want the points with Oregon St. I most likely will take a pass in this game and study how much Canfield has developed as I track Oregon St during the latter part of the year and into their bowl game.
For the Latest CFB Odds Please Visit our CFB Odds Page
CFB Trend: USC is 17-3 to the Under in their past 20 Pac 10 games
The Wagerline consensus has 58.6% of the CFB bettors on Penn St -5
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