Utah football looking for respect in major Pac-12 road game vs. USC

Utah football looks to gain a measure of respect when it travels to Los Angeles to take on the beat-up USC Trojans at the Coliseum. Who will come out on top?

The Utes and Trojans are two programs that are trending in opposite directions. Salt Lake City and Utah are going to probably name something after or build a statue in homage to head coach Kyle Whittingham while they’ll be looking fire or burn Clay Helton in effigy if he loses this game to the Utes.

The Utes have seen Tyler Huntley play well since returning from injury; the Trojans lost JT Daniels to injury, and Kedon Slovis looked like the second coming against Stanford and then looked like a freshman against BYU.

Utah is looking for respect in the Pac-12 and USC is looking for answers in this South division matchup.

Here’s how to watch:

Date: Friday, Sept. 20
Time: 9 p.m. ET
Venue: LA Memorial Coliseum
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
TV: FOX Sports 1
Live Stream: FOX Sports Go

Keys to Victory

If the Trojans want an opportunity to win this game, their athletes have to play. They have one of the best group of receivers led by Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tyler Vaughns. Utah is going to bring it up front, but one of the key elements of the Air-Raid offense is the ability to get the ball out quickly and in rhythm. This should give true freshman quarterback Kedon Slovis time to throw the football.

Speaking of Slovis, the defenses he’s playing continue to get more difficult. First Stanford, then BYU and now Utah. He’s going to have to figure out how to play beyond his years. Specifically, he can’t turn the ball over like he did against BYU. He looked good at times and inexperienced in others. He’ll have to make good decisions with the ball in key moments in the game if the Trojans want to pull off the home upset.

For Utah, it’s simple, stick to the game-plan.

Game-plan Part I: Give the ball to Zack Moss — a lot. The run game is the foundation of everything they want to do on offense.

Game-plan Part II: Fake the ball to Moss, and let Tyler Huntley run when they key on the running back. Returning offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig said before the season he wanted to give more running responsibilities to Huntley.

Game-plan Part III: Fake the ball to Moss, and get the ball to the speedy Brian Thompson. The Utes don’t have many dynamic play makers on the perimeter, but Thompson is one, and the Trojans need to know they are going to pay for putting eight in the box to stop the run.

Game-plan Part IV: Confuse Kedon Slovis and make him look like a freshman. Utah needs to use their advantage upfront and get pressure on Slovis without blitzing and confuse coverages on the back-end.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of Bovada

Line: Utah -4
Over/Under: 51.5

Prediction

USC has been a heart-breaker this season. After looking fantastic against Stanford — and maybe the Cardinal aren’t any good — the Trojans looked rather pedestrian against BYU, especially defensively. The Utes have won. They’ve been bowling shoe ugly at times, but they’ve gotten the wins. The Utes want everyone to know they are for real, and what better way to do that than with a win in Los Angeles? Sorry, Clay.

Final Score: Utah 24, USC 10