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USC vs Washington State Prediction, Game Preview

USC vs Washington State prediction and game preview.


USC vs Washington State Broadcast

Date: Saturday, September 18
Game Time: 3:30 ET
Venue: Martin Stadium, Pullman, WA
Network: FOX
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USC (1-1) vs Washington State (1-1) Game Preview


Why USC Will Win

The talent is there – it’s just not playing well.

There’s never a good time to fire a head coach who needs to go, but two games into a season certainly doesn’t do much for a team trying to figure it all out on the fly.

It wasn’t just one bad day against Stanford that launched Clay Helton – it was the direction of the program all while UCLA appears to be ascending. There’s enough in place to turn this around fast, though, and now the pressure is essentially off. There won’t be a weekly Helton On The Hot Seat thing.

It’ll be up to new interim head man Donte Williams to take a team full of good players and making it all work, and it starts with the passing game going off.

Kedon Slovis hasn’t been bad, and this week he should throw at will against a Washington State defense that doesn’t have a pass rush and struggled in its first two games. Once the O gets going, everything else should fall into place.

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Why Washington State Will Win

So what’s really the problem at USC?

It was able to get by San Jose State with relative ease, and chalk up the Stanford game to a bad day. However, there hasn’t been anything from the defensive line so far – it’s not getting behind the line – and there are WAY too many penalties and mistakes so far.

Wazzu has a similar problem to USC’s – the talent in place isn’t producing yet.

Turnovers aren’t an issue, and the parts are there to start doing a whole lot more to keep the chains moving, and again, USC probably won’t bring the pressure.

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What’s Going To Happen

USC is okay.

Washington State lost to Utah State and wasn’t great against Portland State, but the Pac-12 season starts now and there couldn’t be a better time to try pulling this off.

Instead of melting down, watch out for the Trojans to start playing looser and better. The defense will be okay, but it’s the offensive side that will quickly take over with a huge day from the passing attack.

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USC vs Washington State Prediction, Line

USC 30, Washington State 20
Line: USC -8.5, o/u: 62
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3

Must See Rating: 3

5: Steve is proud of you
1: Ordinary Joe

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