USC vs GONZAGA
When: 3/30/2021 7:15 PM
Where: Lucan Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN

TV: 7:15 PM
LINE: -450
PREDICTION: USC, Gonzaga

Oddsmakers currently have Gonzaga listed as 9 point favorites versus Southern California while the game’s total is sitting at 153.

Most college basketball fans are probably familiar by now with Gonzaga’s big three of Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs, and Drew Timme.

They were the first trio from the same team to be among 10 players chosen for the Wooden All-American team. Kispert was named a finalist for the Wooden Award, which goes to the national player of the year.

The three have led the top-seeded Bulldogs to the Elite Eight, and an accompanying meeting Tuesday with sixth-seeded Southern California.

But what about the Bulldogs’ other starters?

Well, Andrew Nembhard and Joel Ayayi showed in Sunday’s 83-65 victory against Creighton in the NCAA Tournament’s West Region semifinal that they deserve the defense’s attention as well.

Nembhard and Ayayi combined for 30 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists as Gonzaga (29-0), the top overall seed, moved within a game of their second Final Four berth.

“We play our best when we’re just moving the ball because we have so many pieces and so much versatility,” said Nembhard, a transfer from Florida who has played with the Canadian national team. “It’s just like playing in a park with a bunch of guys that click so well.”

Nembhard’s 17 points Sunday were two shy of his season-high set Dec. 2 in an 87-82 victory against West Virginia, the Bulldogs’ lone game to be decided by fewer than 10 points this season.

Gonzaga is chasing history as well as its first NCAA title. The Bulldogs could become the first undefeated champion since Indiana in 1975-76.

“I’m just telling you: We’re not hung up on the undefeated thing at all,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “We’ve got to go undefeated from here on out. We’ve got to go 3-0 if we want to win the championship, which, has been our goal all along. But nobody’s talking about the overall undefeated thing at all.”

Gonzaga’s victory in Sunday’s early game assured the West Region final would be an all-West Coast affair.

While the Bulldogs will be making their fourth Elite Eight appearance in the past six tournaments, the Trojans earned their first trip in 20 years and just their second in six decades with their victory in the late game, 82-68 over Pac-12 rival Oregon 82-68 Sunday night.

Isaiah White led the Trojans (25-7) with 22 points, and their zone defense shut down Oregon’s potent attack.

“We’re making history, and it just means a lot to this program,” White said. “As a team, we’re just super excited and we worked for this, so I’m glad that it’s paying off.”

As for USC’s chances against Gonzaga?

“We believe we can beat anybody,” White said.

USC’s 7-foot freshman Evan Mobley considered a potential top-three pick in the next NBA draft, had just 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting against the Ducks but added eight rebounds, six assists, and two blocked shots.

“He takes what the defense gives. He has confidence in his teammates,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “When your most talented offensive player is your most unselfish and most willing passer, you can win a lot of games like that.”

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USC vs TEXAS
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 15, 2018
Where: Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas

TV: 8:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: TEXAS , USC

Oddsmakers currently have the TEXAS listed as 3 point favorites versus the USC, while the game’s total is sitting at 48.

Texas can’t afford too many mistakes when it hosts No. 21 USC on Saturday night. The Trojans are too good on defense for the Longhorns to continue to make drive-stalling errors.

Texas enters Saturday’s rematch with USC ranked near the bottom nationally in penalty yards (110th), third-down percentage (112th) and red-zone offense (113th). “The biggest barrier? It’s execution,” coach Tom Herman told the media Monday. “We have got to coach our guys to be consistent. We can’t have any self-inflicted wounds too.” The Longhorn defense will try to pressure USC freshman quarterback JT Daniels – who has been sacked six times in two games – into mistakes. Daniels played through a bruised throwing hand and had three turnovers in last week’s loss to Stanford.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, Fox. LINE: Texas -3

ABOUT USC (1-1): Daniels has thrown for 497 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions but has plenty of options. Senior Aca’Cedric Ware (159 rushing yards, one touchdown) leads a stable of running backs while sophomore Tyler Vaughns, freshman Amon-Ra St. Brown and junior Michael Pittman are making big plays in the passing game. A senior-heavy defense – led by linebackers Cameron Smith (16 tackles, 3.0 for loss) and Porter Gustin (eight tackles, 2.5 for loss, 1.5 sacks) – will be without starting safety Isaiah Pola-Mao (shoulder).

ABOUT TEXAS (1-1): Sophomore quarterback Sam Ehlinger (500 passing yards, two interceptions) has spread his four touchdown passes to four different players, including leading receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey (13 catches, 191 yards). California graduate transfer Tre Watson (126 rushing yards) and sophomore Daniel Young (68 rushing yards) will get the bulk of the ground game as freshman Keaontay Ingram (101 yards, two scores) is doubtful with a knee injury. Senior defensive back P.J. Locke III leads Texas with 14 tackles while freshmen safeties Caden Sterns and B.J. Foster each had interceptions in last week’s win against Tulsa.

EXTRA POINTS

1. A victory would allow Texas to join Michigan and Ohio State as only programs with 900 all-time wins. Texas’ 800th program win came against USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

2. The Trojans are ranked 18th nationally in passing yards allowed (140.0) and have recorded 14 tackles for loss along with five sacks.

3. Watson played against USC twice during his four years at Cal, recording 165 yards on eight kickoff returns as a freshman and rushing for 33 yards and catching a 22-yard touchdown pass as a junior in 2016.

PREDICTION: Texas 27, USC 24

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USC vs STANFORD
When: 8:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 8, 2018
Where: Stanford Stadium, Stanford, California

TV: 8:30 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: STANFORD , USC

Oddsmakers currently have the STANFORD listed as point favorites versus the USC, while the game’s total is sitting at .

After cruising past a pair of Mountain West foes last week, No. 12 USC and No. 9 Stanford meet Saturday in Palo Alto in a rematch of last season’s Pac-12 Championship Game. Freshman quarterback JT Daniels threw for 282 yards and a touchdown in USC’s 43-21 season-opening win over UNLV, while Stanford wide receiver JJ Arcega-Whiteside caught three long scoring passes from K.J. Costello in a 31-10 victory over San Diego State.

Arcega-Whiteside was named Pac-12 Offensive player of the Week after catching six passes for 226 yards while San Diego State focused on stopping Heisman Trophy candidate Bryce Love, who was held to 29 yards on 18 carries after rushing for 2,118 yards last season. “It’s no secret Bryce is the best running back in the country,” Costello told reporters. “We all believe it. There were times I came to the line and there were 11 guys coming downhill to light him up. Being able to counter that is what you have to do to be a good offense.” Love looks to bounce back against USC, which has won 16 of its last 17 conference games. Daniels became the second true freshman quarterback to start an opener for USC and went 22 of 35 for 282 yards against UNLV, connecting early and often with former high school teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown, who had seven receptions for 98 yards and a score.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Stanford -5.5

ABOUT USC (1-0): Chase McGrath kicked five field goals to tie a school record against UNLV while Daniels had plenty of help from his running game as Aca’Cedric Ware rushed for 100 yards and a score and Vavae Malepeai scored two TDs. USC allowed just two sacks with redshirt freshman Brett Neilon starting at center in place of senior Toa Lobendahn, who is questionable due to a strained pectoral muscle. Cameron Smith and Isaiah Pola-Mao combined for 14 tackles while linebacker Porter Gustin had two sacks to lead the defense, which allowed 308 rushing yards against the Rebels and will need an improved effort to keep Love contained.

ABOUT STANFORD (1-0): Costello finished 21 for 31 for a career-high 332 yards and four touchdowns against San Diego State as the Cardinal won their 11th straight home opener and improved to 24-5 against in-state opponents under coach David Shaw. Linebackers Bobby Okereke, Joey Alfieri, Sean Barton and Mustafa Branch helped limit the Aztecs to 113 passing yards while senior punter/kicker Jake Bailey forced San Diego State to start 11 of 12 possessions inside its 30-yard-line. The defense allowed a total of 263 yards but struggled to slow down Juwan Washington, who rushed 24 times for 158 yards and a TD.

EXTRA POINTS

1. USC holds a 62-32-3 series lead against Stanford – including a 31-28 win in last season’s Pac-12 title game.

2. Seven of the past 12 meetings in the series have been decided by eight points or fewer.

3. Stanford has allowed a total of 10 sacks over the past 11 games covering 308 pass attempts.

PREDICTION: Stanford 28, USC 24

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UNLV vs USC
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 1, 2018
Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, California

TV: 4:00 PM
LINE: -25
PREDICTION: USC , UNLV

Oddsmakers currently have the USC listed as -25 point favorites versus the UNLV, while the game’s total is sitting at 62.5.

No. 15 USC will have a distinctive new look when it takes the field for its opener with UNLV on Saturday afternoon, and it won’t just be the ongoing $300 million renovation of the historic Los Angeles Coliseum. The Trojans will also unveil their new starting quarterback who will try and fill the big shoes of No. 3 NFL Draft-pick Sam Darnold.

Head coach Clay Helton announced Sunday night that 18-year-old true freshman JT Daniels, who was Gatorade’s National Player of the Year after leading Mater Dei High School of Santa Ana, Calif., to a 15-0 record and the mythical national championship, will be the man to take over for Darnold, who set a school single-season record with 4,143 passing yards last season. Daniels, who graduated a year early from Mater Dei so he could enroll at USC in the summer, beat out redshirt freshman Jack Sears, who succeeded Darnold at San Clemente High School, and redshirt sophomore Matt Fink, who saw action in three games in mop-up duty. “He’s a very mature kid, both physically and mentally,” Helton told the Los Angeles Times of Daniels. “Our goal with all freshmen is to come in and not (just) learn but compete when they come into camp. And obviously, he’s doing a nice job competing.” The game is a homecoming for UNLV quarterback Armani Rogers who helped lead Los Angeles Hamilton High School to an L.A. City title as a junior in the Coliseum.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network LINE: USC -25.5

ABOUT UNLV (5-7 in 2017): The Rebels have improved by one win each season under fourth-year head coach Tony Sanchez, which means it’s bowl game or bust this year. Rogers, the reigning Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, and explosive senior Lexington Thomas, a first team All-Mountain West pick who rushed for 1,336 yards and averaged 6.3 yards per carry in 2017, headline an offense that returns seven starters and ranked 18th nationally in rushing with an average of 240.2 yards per game. Sanchez brought in Florida linebackers coach Tim Skipper as defensive coordinator and try to upgrade a defense that allowed 458.7 yards and 31.8 points per game and gave up 43 points in a shocking home loss to Howard.

ABOUT USC (11-3 in 2017): Beside Darnold, the Trojans also must replace dependable Ronald Jones II who ran for 3,619 yards in three seasons. However, the cupboard is hardly bare with talented sophomore Stephen Carr, who had 119 yards in their Pac-12 opening win against Stanford last season, and senior Aca’Cedric Ware returning. Daniels’ top target at Mater Dei, freshman Amon-Ra St. Brown, joins sophomore Tyler Vaughns and junior Michael Pittman Jr. to give the Trojans what should be one of the Pac-12’s top wide receiving corps while the defense will be led by a trio of future high NFL Draft picks in middle linebacker Cameron Smith, outside linebacker Porter Gustin and cornerback Iman Marshall.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Matt Barkley, like Daniels and 2004 Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinhart is a Mater Dei High School grad and is the only other USC true freshman to start a season opener at quarterback.

2. USC is 30-1-1 (.953) against current Mountain West teams (not including two wins vacated due to NCAA penalty) with the lone loss coming to Fresno State in 1992.

3. USC has won the only previous meeting between the two schools, 35-21 in 1997 in the Coliseum which also was the 100th collegiate coaching victory for future Rebels head coach John Robinson.

PREDICTION: USC 38, UNLV 20

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USC Trojans vs Arizona State Sun Devils
When: 6:30 PM  ET, Sunday, February 26, 2017
Where: Wells-Fargo Arena, Tempe, Arizona

TV: 6:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Networks
LINE: 3
PREDICTION: USC 78, Arizona State 71

Oddsmakers currently have the USC listed as 3 point favorites versus the Arizona, while the game’s total is sitting at 162.5.

USC is through the toughest part of its regular season schedule and the Trojans can focus on a strong finish in the Pac-12 beginning Sunday at Arizona State. USC is coming off double-digit losses in the last two weeks to No. 7 Oregon, No. 5 UCLA and No. 4 Arizona, and closes out the regular season against Arizona State, Washington State and Washington, teams in the bottom half of the conference standings.

USC enters the game in sixth place in the Pac-12 and with a slim chance of climbing to fourth and earning a first-round bye at the conference tournament next month in Las Vegas. The Trojans would need to win their remaining games and hope fourth-place California loses its final two, and fifth-place Utah loses one of its last two. Arizona State can still finish as high as seventh or as low as 10th, which would be an improvement on last season’s 11th-place finish. Torian Graham and Obinna Oleka, the two seniors on the roster, should be motivated to finish their college careers on a high note, and Arizona State played the Trojans close in the last meeting, losing 82-79 in Los Angeles.

ABOUT USC (21-7, 8-7 Pac-12): Arizona State is another team that didn’t have to deal with USC 6-10 sophomore forward Bennie Boatwright in their first Pac-12 meeting, as Boatwright missed two months with a knee injury, including the first nine games of conference play. He’s averaging 18.3 points in the five games since his return, boosting his season average to a team-leading 14.9, and he should have plenty of room to work against the undersized Sun Devils. The other front court starter for the Trojans, 6-11 junior Chimezie Metu, was held to seven points in the last game against Arizona State, but should get better looks with Boatwright drawing a lot of attention.

ABOUT ARIZONA STATE (13-16, 6-10): Graham played all 40 minutes against USC last month and coach Bobby Hurley will probably lean on his 6-5 shooting guard again. He scored 24 points in that game and produced at least 24 in three of the last four games to bump his team-leading scoring average to 18.8, second best in the Pac-12. Tra Holder, the second-leading scorer for the Sun Devils at 16.8 points, has seen his point total drop from 21 to 10 to five in the last three games, so he’ll undoubtedly be looking to reverse that course.

TIP-INS
1. Graham has made 95 3-pointers this season, two shy of moving past Steven Smith (1993-94) for second in program history.
2. Oleka needs one double-double for 15 on the season, which would tie Ike Diogu (2004-05) for most in program history since the 1978-79 season.
3. USC has lost its last four games at Wells Fargo Arena.

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NOTRE DAME vs USC
When: 11/26/2016 3:30 PM

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC. LINE: USC -17
PREDICTION: USC 38, Notre Dame 21

The 12th-ranked University of Southern California Trojans (8-3, 7-2) wrap up their regular season Saturday against the rival Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the L.A. Coliseum, having completed the conference schedule with seven consecutive victories. One of those wins came against Colorado, which is 7-1 in the league but plays host to a tough Utah team Saturday after the USC game.

If the Utes win, the Trojans advance to the conference title game as the Pac-12 South winner because of its head-to-head victory over the Buffaloes.

“We’ll be big Utah fans next week,” USC coach Clay Helton said after his team beat UCLA 36-14 on Saturday night at the Rose Bowl. “We’ve set our mark at 7-2, and we’ve got to see if Colorado can match it.”

As for what the Trojans can control, they can only continue to play well and hope to position themselves for the biggest bowl possible. Nothing less than a smackdown of struggling Notre Dame (4-7), which coughed up a pair of 17-point leads last week in a 34-31 home loss to Virginia Tech, is expected.

The hits kept coming Tuesday when the NCAA ruled that Notre Dame must vacate wins from the 2012 and 2013 seasons due to academic misconduct, stemming from a student athletic trainer completing coursework for football players. The university announced it would appeal the decision.

The 2012 season includes a 12-0 run in the regular season.

Kelly called it “student on student” cheating, adding that he felt “zero” responsibility in the matter.

“I’m proud of our support staff, our academic support staff,” he said. “I’m proud of the people that represented us here at Notre Dame during this time.”

While the school litigates those old victories, Kelly and the Irish will be trying to pull off an upset to get one more in 2016.

“Their personnel is fabulous,” Helton said of the Irish. “I know they’ll come to play. A Brian Kelly team always does.”

Well, USC did win 49-14 when the teams last met in Los Angeles to end the 2014 regular-season.

The Trojans enter this meeting in a much better place, thanks in large part to redshirt freshman Sam Darnold. With his arm, smarts and crafty ability to escape pressure, he has positioned himself on some Heisman lists behind Louisville’s Lamar Jackson, even though Darnold has started only eight games.

Helton inserted Darnold into the starting lineup in the fourth game after a 1-2 start with quarterback Max Browne. The Trojans lost Darnold’s first start, when the defense gave up a touchdown in the final seconds to Utah, but haven’t lost since.

USC has scored at least 36 points five times in its seven-game winning streak. Helton says there is a trust level with Darnold that is allowing offensive coordinator Tee Martin to be more aggressive.

“A lot has to do with Sam. We’re able to play with our hair on fire right now,” Helton said. “Our success on third down … we’re gunning on third down. There’s a lot of trust from Game 1 to now.”

Darnold is eighth nationally with a passing efficiency rating of 162.4.

Notre Dame has one of the top NFL quarterback prospects in DeShone Kizer, but USC has two of the nation’s most athletic cornerbacks in Adoree’ Jackson and Iman Marshall.

“The two corners we have right now are doing a tremendous job,” Helton said.

USC has held the past two opposing starting quarterbacks to under 50 percent passing — Washington’s Jake Browning (17 of 36) and UCLA’s Mike Fafaul (15 of 31).

Kizer was 16 of 33 for 235, with two touchdowns, last week against Virginia Tech. The Irish also posted their second consecutive 200-yard rushing day, led by running back Josh Adams. He has three 100-yard rushing games this season.

Notre Dame looked good at times on defense, with tackle Jarron Jones and end Isaac Rochell up front, but the Irish are statistically average, ranking 55th nationally by allowing 26.3 points per game.

Each of the Irish’s seven losses have come by eight points or less, but the Trojans are hot enough to run up the margin.

Kelly is still looking for elusive consistency.

“Some of that is guys growing up, getting more experience,” he said. “Some of that is better coaching. But, yeah, there’s nothing endemic within the program as much as it is a team that has not executed consistently for four quarters.”

Notre Dame leads this traditional intersectional rivalry 46-35-5, which does not include the Trojans’ 2005 victory that was later vacated due to NCAA penalty. Including that 2005 vacated game, USC has won 10 of the last 14 meetings.

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