USC vs Utah point spread: Picking Trojans vs Utes

This week on the Andy Staple On3 podcasts, the college football expert brought in Sports Illustrated Richard Johnson to discuss the lines of some of the top matchups and week 8. One of the games the two broke down is the rematch of the 2022 Pac-12 title game between USC and Utah.

Since becoming the USC head coach prior to last season, there has been no bigger thorn in Lincoln Riley‘s side than the Utah Utes. And in Week 8 of the 2023 college football season, the Trojans will get a chance to exact revenge against the Utes in the Coliseum, where they are favored by 6.5 at home. Still, Johnson is not sold on USC or its offense following their loss to Notre Dame in Week 7.

“I think we may have overrated USC’s offense,” said Johnson. “Because you look at every defense they’ve played, until they played Notre Dame, you sort of look back in totality, and you’re like, ‘eh, maybe they were selling us a bill of goods.’  You score 30 in regulation against Arizona and are inept and unable to do anything against Notre Dame. I think they struggled to run the ball against a decent run defense, which hampers them; Caleb Williams is trying to do too much.

“It boils down to Caleb Williams go back there and try and figure something out, which I don’t think is a winning business model against Utah… And the whole, I’m going to sit back there for 15 seconds and wait for somebody to pop open is not fine against a good defense. And just because of that, I’m taking Utah; I might take Utah outright.”

While Johnson has little faith in USC come Saturday, Staples sees things through a more rose-colored lens. The On3 college football guru likes the Trojans’ odds at covering, but he does have one major concern.

“We’re going to disagree on this one; I’m going to take USC to cover here,” said Staples. “They do tend to play Utah well in LA… I am worried about the Utah offense. Now, I will say this: If the Utah offense is very effective against USC and moves the ball regularly, they need to drive Alex Grinch to a tarmac and fire him.”

Johnson echoed Staples’ sentiments on USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and highlighted a caveat that would spell doom for the Trojans’ defense: if Utah is able to cash in on big plays as they did against Florida in their season opener. And that brought Staples to the realization of who lies in wait for USC after Saturday’s showdown with Utah.

“There’s no hope. Like, you have to play Washington and Oregon after this. There is no hope if you can’t stop them (Utah).”  

Johnson finished off the segment by highlighting Utah’s plan of attack against USC. While other Pac-12 opponents would likely use the art of elegant and intricate offensive scheming, the Utes are coming in looking for a fight. And if they can pull USC into their style of play on Saturday, it could be curtains for the Trojans preseason expectations.

“Utah’s got a plan here to come in here and try to make this what you think they’re gonna try. They’re gonna try and make this a barroom brawl, and you’ve got to figure something out. Can they control the clock (and) keep Caleb Williams off the field? That sort of game. If they’re able to play a classic Utah game, then okay.”