Stanford Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2017

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SANTA CLARA, CA – DECEMBER 05: Ronald Jones II #25 of the USC Trojans scores a touchdown, dragging Dallas Lloyd #29 of the Stanford Cardinal into the endzone during the third quarter of the NCAA Pac-12 Championship game at Levi’s Stadium on December 5, 2015 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

There may not be a more hyped team in the Pac-12 this season than USC. The Trojans enter the 2017 campaign as the expected conference champion. In fact, USC looks to be one of the more dominant teams in all of college football this season but it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Trojans lose an early-season matchup.

Stanford is a prime candidate to pull off an upset here. While USC is a top-five team in college football, it seems each season comes with an early-season upset loss. The Trojans have been sitting in the spotlight ever since their Rose Bowl victory, but will it be too much for these young guys to handle.

In Week 2, technically Week 3 since Stanford has a bye on Sept. 2, the Cardinal will travel to Los Angeles to face off against Sam Darnold and Co. Last year, the Trojans marched into Stanford looking for blood, only to leave with their tails between their legs and a 27-10 defeat which dropped them to 1-2.

That won’t be the case this year as the Cardinal’s young defense will be trying to gel still and USC’s offense will be too much to handle. The game will be relatively close for three quarters, but the Trojans hold on in the fourth thanks to a late touchdown pass by Darnold.

Final: USC 37, Stanford 24 (1-1, 0-1 Pac-12)

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