USC Football: Way too early 2021 game predictions

USC football will open the season against one of the best stories of the 2020 season, the San Jose State Spartans. San Jose State surprised everyone with the season they had and they wound up winning the Mountain West.

The Spartans are welcoming back quarterback Nick Starkel and they will hope that with the experience at quarterback and what should be another stingy defense, they can once again challenge for the Mountain West title.

I could see some people picking this as a trendy upset pick potentially with the success of the Spartans last season, but that would not be wise. USC might not be a national championship contender, but it has far too much talent for San Jose State and should win comfortably.

Final Score: USC 45, San Jose State 14 (1-0) 

USC will continue its tradition (not counting last year) of opening their PAC-12 season with a week two game vs Stanford. These two teams did not play last season and that is a shame because this is one of the best rivalries in the conference.

Stanford will be replacing some of their best players, notably quarterback Davis Mills, cornerback Paulson Adebo and offensive tackle Walker Little. The Stanford program has lost a little bit of luster in recent years and head coach David Shaw is trying to get them back to competing for conference championships.

While I still think Shaw is still a good coach, Stanford is missing some key pieces and they don’t recruit at a high enough level to instantly replace them with impact players. I think USC wins this comfortably at home.

Final Score: USC 41, Stanford 20 (2-0, 1-0 Pac 12)