College Football Rankings 2017: Projected Week 3 AP Top 25
By Zach Bigalke
No. 14 Stanford headed for Los Angeles to take on No. 6 USC on Saturday. The Cardinal had won seven out of the past nine contests against the Trojans, but the magic ran dry for David Shaw‘s team when they visited the Coliseum in prime time. After holding serve against the Trojans for the better part of the first half, USC pulled away for a 28-17 halftime victory.
The big problem for Stanford was quarterback Keller Chryst, who fell flat as he completed just 15 of his 28 attempts for 172 yards and two scores. He didn’t toss an interception along the way, but Chryst still didn’t provide enough balance for the tough running game. It wasted a 160-yard, one-touchdown effort by Bryce Love in his fourth straight 100-yard game since taking over for Christian McCaffrey late last year.
The Cardinal probably won’t fall too hard after the 42-24 loss on the road in their Pac-12 opener. With USC looking to jump into the top five of the AP Top 25, Stanford will probably fall four to six spots to somewhere in the No. 18 to No. 20 range.