College Football Predictions: USC vs. Colorado Preview

Written by Jake Thompson
Thursday, 03 November 2011 15:21

Predictions are ready in Friday’s college football game between USC and Colorado.

Friday night’s college football game between the USC Trojans (6-2) and the Colorado Buffaloes (1-8) is the focus of our preview, and we hope that these predictions help everyone win some easy money.  The USC vs. Colorado game will be shown live on ESPN and start time is set for 9:00 PM ET.  Legends Sportsbook has the odds showing USC -22 on the point spread with a total of 58.5.

USC and Colorado haven’t played one another since 2002, but the schools figure to begin a new rivalry now that the Buffaloes have joined the Pac-12.  The Trojans were a 40-3 road winner in the last head-to-head meeting and will once again be the road team in the 2011 edition of the game.  USC has picked up wins over Minnesota, Utah, Syracuse, Arizona, California, and Notre Dame this season, while falling against Arizona State and Stanford.  Colorado’s only victory of the season came against Colorado State, and they’ve suffered losses against Hawaii, California, Ohio State, Washington State, Stanford, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona State.

Colorado has struggled on both sides of the ball, with their offense averaging 18.8 points per game and their defense allowing 38.3.  Quarterback Tyler Hansen (2029 yards, 56.7%, 14 TD, 6 INT) has done a pretty good job considering he’s had to carry the load with the Buffaloes not running the ball well.  The Buffaloes have scored a high of 24 when they have been outrushed this season, with an average of 13.5 points when it happens.  USC allows just 103.0 rushing yards per game, so it appears that Colorado’s final score won’t be all that high.

USC’s offense has averaged 32.4 points per game and they have a nice balance of the rush and the pass.  Quarterback Matt Barkley (2290 yards, 67.3%, 22 TD, 5 INT) has been one of the best in college football, and it doesn’t look like the Trojans will have much trouble running the ball against a Colorado defense that allows 185.7 rushing yards a game on 5.2 per carry.  USC has averaged 34.5 points a game when outrushing their opposition by 100 yards or more and I consider it a distinct possibility that they can put up that statistic against Colorado.

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The good news for the Buffaloes is that they have played much better football at home than on the road.  USC’s offense has been worse statistically on the road as well, evening up a bit of the disparity between these two schools.  That being said, predictions here still call for USC to control the game with their rushing attack while Colorado struggles to move the ball.  I think the point spread will come down to the wire, but our preview will call for the under 58.5 total points to be a winning wager.

USC vs. Colorado Score Predictions:

USC 37

Colorado 13