USC at Utah 11/21/20 - College Football Picks & Predictions

The USC Trojans travel on the road for the opening game of the season for the Utah Utes; USC already has two games under their belt and has snuck away with back to back wins, the most recent a 34-30 win on the road over Arizona. USC came into that game as a two-touchdown favorite but needed a late drive capped off with an 8-yard touchdown run to take the lead with just 25 seconds left. Utah has had both games canceled due to positive COVID tests and we don’t know what we are going to get from this Utah team.

Utah is coming off a solid 2019 season and before spring practice had a quarterback competition brewing between South Carolina Jake Bentley and redshirt sophomore Cameron Rising. The decision has been made and announced to the team but not yet publicly, Bentley has started 33 games in the SEC for South Carolina but Rising has been in the program for a year. 

The Utes do return a lot of weapons including All-Pac 12 tight end Brant Kuithe who led the team in receptions with 34, yards with 602, and touchdowns with 6 last season. They will also be missing star running back Zack Moss who is now playing in the NFL for the BIlls, those duties will likely go to Devin Brumfield and Jordan Ailmore who combined for 457 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns last year.

USC hasn’t been all that impressive this year but it can’t be neglected they are 2-0 and no doubt will continue to get better with the lack of offseason preparation time. Leading the offense is sophomore Kendon Slovis who was solid last season and has continued that this season. Slovis is completing 71.4% of his passes for 706 yards, tossing for three touchdowns to just one interception this season. 

The USC rushing attack is led by two solid backs, leading the team in rushing yards is sophomore Markese Stepp who is averaging 5.2 yards per carry totaling 135 yards, and has found the endzone twice. Senior Stephen Carr is also in the mix, he’s carried it 22 times for 125 yards and also found the endzone twice. 

USC is allowing 28.5 points per game which ranks them 4th in the Pac 12 in scoring defense and is allowing 418 yards per game which ranks 4th in Pac 12 as well. Utah was exceptional on defense last season allowing just 256.2 yards per game ranking 3rd in the NCAA and allowed just 13.2 points per game to rank 5th in the country; however much of that defense is gone with two defensive backs headed to the NFL and an All-Pac 12 defensive lineman.