USC Football: 3 reasons the Trojans will beat Stanford in Week 2

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Dec 19, 2020; Pasadena, California, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach David Shaw looks on from the sidelines in the first half of the game against the UCLA Bruins at the Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Stanford’s program is going in the wrong direction

This point might be a bit broad, but it is contributing to how I think this game is going to play out on Saturday.

Stanford has just not looked like a good program in recent years and they look like they don’t have a direction. This used to be the best program in the Pac-12 just a decade ago when David Shaw first got the job and won some conference titles after taking over for Jim Harbaugh.

The thing is though, Stanford has not put out a quality team since 2015 when they last won the Pac-12 and went to the Rose Bowl and had the Heisman runner up in Christian McCaffrey. The offense looks like it is stuck in the past and has no creativity to it. The defense once was consistently the best in the Pac-12, but it has turned into one of the countries worst.

This program needs a reboot and because they are in their current state, I think USC blows the Cardinal out on Saturday.

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