USC Football: Kedon Slovis legend can grow vs. BYU in Week 3

Coming off a big win over Stanford, USC football will face a tough road matchup against a suddenly-confident BYU squad.

The tune-up week before college football begins the meat and potatoes of conference play. Some teams have already played a conference game, but we’ll leave that discussion for an opinion piece down the road. This leads us to Provo, Utah, where the BYU Cougars host USC for a Saturday afternoon kick. This is the final game before the Trojans start their grueling conference schedule.

The Cougars 1-1 are coming off of a thrilling 29-26 overtime win at Neyland Stadium against the Tennessee Volunteers. The defense did an outstanding job of keeping the Volunteers out of the end zone for most of the game. The Cougars were able to hang around until the fourth quarter and pull off the win in overtime.

The Trojans are coming off of a “comeback” blowout of the Stanford Cardinal. How was this a comeback? The Cardinal were up 17-3 in this game, and the Trojans woke up and outscored the Cardinal 42-3 for the rest of the game. True freshman Kedon Slovis was the star going 28-for-33 for 377 yards and three touchdowns.

That brings us to Saturday’s game and here’s how you can watch:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 13
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Provo, Utah
Venue: LaVell Edwards Stadium
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN or FuboTV

Keys to Victory

The Trojans roll into LaVell Edwards Stadium with a ton of momentum and confidence. Many people thought their season was over when incumbent quarterback JT Daniels went down with a severe knee injury in Week 1 against Fresno State. Slovis came into that game and was serviceable, but nothing that anyone thought was special.

There were predictions on what game would be Clay Helton’s last in Los Angeles and Slovis comes back and is completely lights out against Stanford at the Coliseum. He and his talented group of receivers are ready to light up the scoreboard in Provo.

The Cougars are at home ready to steal one against the Trojans much like they did against the Volunteers. They gave up a lot of yards in that game, but did a masterful job of keeping Tennessee out of the endzone most of the game. The score looks different if the Volunteers get three touchdowns instead of three field goals. Can the Cougars do the same against a much more potent USC offense?

The Trojans know what’s at stake in this game. Helton is coaching for his job every week, and the Trojans could have a playoff argument if they go undefeated in their non-conference schedule. They looked ready to play against Stanford, and there’s no reason they won’t be ready against the Trojans. This is the third week in a row the Cougars are over matched. They were outclassed by their rivals in the Holy War, and stole one in Knoxville. They need a huge effort to upset USC.

Prediction

It’s debatable whether Utah is better than USC, but the Trojans are definitely more talented than the Utes. This doesn’t seem like a trap game for the Trojan simply because BYU is always a tough opponent. However, the Cougars don’t have the personnel to contain all of USC’s wide receivers in Graham Harrell’s air raid offense. The Cougars will give you a lot of try hard in this one, but eventually the Trojans will do to BYU what they did to Stanford — but BYU won’t lead in this game.

Prediction: USC 40, BYU 21