Washington opens as slight favorites over USC
The No. 5 Washington Huskies are next up for the No. 24 USC Trojans and the chances at a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game will likely rest on an upset for the Trojans.
Washington opened as a three-point favorite over USC according to betonline.ag. The line quickly moved to -4. The over/under is 76, which is the highest of any game listed this week by betonline. For comparison, the over/under in the Iowa – Northwestern game is 31.
That the point spread favors Washington likely isn’t a surprise. The Huskies are undefeated this season and have an important win over a top-10 Oregon team on their resume. USC has lost both times it’s faced a top-25 team and its past three wins have come by a total of 10 points against teams that are a combined 12-12. But USC fans might be surprised by a fairly low number. Though, playing at the Coliseum is an advantage for USC that likely factored into the number a bit.
Washington is 8-0 this season and the Pac-12’s only undefeated team. But several of the Huskies’ recent wins have been of the less-than-impressive variety, similar to USC’s. Washington beat Arizona by seven in Tucson, then posted the strong, three-point win at home against Oregon. Since then, the Huskies didn’t score an offensive touchdown in a 15-7 win at Arizona State, and then needed a bad Stanford drop to help secure a 42-33 win against the Cardinal that was much closer than the final score.
Both teams are led by quarterbacks that entered the season as Heisman Trophy candidates and will receive much of the attention ahead of this one.
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Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. leads the nation in passing yards per game while USC’s Caleb Williams is tied for first in passing touchdowns this season. As the over/under indicates, the offenses are expected to pile up points in this one. The winner could be which defense comes up with just enough stops.
The Trojans’ much-maligned defense is No. 114 in total defense and No. 113 in scoring defense this season. Washington’s group is No. 96 in total defense but has been much better at keeping opponents out of the endzone. The Huskies are all the way up at No. 33 in scoring defense.
This will be Homecoming weekend at USC. The game is scheduled to kick at 4:30 pm and air live on ABC.
