USC Football: 3 bold predictions for Pac-12 title game vs. Stanford

USC football faces the Stanford Cardinal in the 2017 Pac-12 Championship Game. Here are my three bold predictions for the game.

The 11th-ranked Trojans will face the 21st-ranked Cardinal at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday evening. Santa Clara is about a half an hour from the Stanford campus which makes it all but a home game for the Cardinal. USC has about an hour and a quarter flight up north for the game.

The Trojans enter the game 10-2 and ranked 19th in Bill C’s S&P+ rankings. The Cardinal are 9-3 and 27th in Bill C’s rankings. Both schools have a Heisman Trophy hype candidate with USC quarterback Sam Darnold and Stanford’s tailback Bryce Love. The Trojans won the early-season iteration of this contest back in September down in Los Angeles, 42-24.

The Trojans are coached by Clay Helton. He is 26-9 while at the helm of the Trojans. Helton served as a post-Lane Kiffin interim head coach before getting the full-time tag. Since then, he’s had back-to-back 10-win seasons. Helton’s star is the aforementioned Darnold.

Darnold hasn’t been as dominant as many anticipated but he’s still considered a first round NFL draft pick in 2018. Darnold has thrown for 3,400-plus yards and 24 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. But USC has a balanced offense. Ronald Jones II has rushed for 1,300-plus yards and 16 touchdowns on 6.3 yards per carry.

Stanford’s offense lacks the firepower in the passing game that the Trojans have, but they have Bryce Love. Love is the most explosive player in the country. Love has ran for 1,800-plus yards, with 16 touchdowns as well, but on 8.6 yards per carry.

The Stanford issue is at quarterback where K.J. Costello has looked better than Keller Chryst but still is unimpressive. The Cardinal lost the first outing but Love got his rushing for 9.6 yards per carry against the Trojans defense. In a major similar matchup; the Trojans were beatdown by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the middle of the year while the Cardinal just beat the Irish in a come-from-behind victory.

Here are my three bold predictions for the Pac-12 Championship Game