On Saturday at 4:30 PM PT on ABC and KNBR Radio, Stanford football will welcome #10 USC to The Farm. Stanford comes in at 1-0 overall while USC also comes in at 1-0.
Last time out: Stanford defeated Colgate 41-10 at home in their Week 1 matchup. Stanford junior quarterback Tanner McKee went 22-27 for 308 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception while junior running back E.J. Smith had 125 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns including an 87 yard touchdown run.
RECAP: Stanford uses Colgate to scrape away the plaque in 41-10 victory
On USC: The Trojans are in year one of the Lincoln Riley era. Riley comes from Oklahoma and hopes to inject new life in a USC team that gravely disappointed last year. After Stanford defeated USC last year, that was the end of the Clay Helton era. He was swiftly canned as a result. USC has several transfers on their team, most prominently sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams, who is considered one of the top talents in the country. He’s a guy who can beat teams with his legs and his arm. Just an electric athlete that can do it all.
Stanford will see a familiar face in senior running back Austin Jones, who transferred from Stanford to USC after his junior year. Jones will look to have a big outing against his former team and Stanford in turn will look to quiet him down.
This is once again a USC team with lots of hype and expectations only this time they feel they have a coach who can lead them to where they want to go. USC defeated Rice 66-14 in their first game of the season and looks to build on the momentum from that win with a victory at Stanford.
USC ranks atop the list of Stanford rivals: Earlier this week, CardinalSportsReport.com did a poll asking which rivalry fans value the most. Of the 81 people who voted, 48 (59.3%) chose USC as the rivalry they most value. Cal came in second with 21 votes (25.9%). So that just speaks to how much this game means to Stanford and the fan base.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is contain Caleb Williams. He will look to run all over Stanford and test their run defense early and often. If Stanford can contain him and not allow him to go wild, that more than anything will give them a chance to win.
Secondly, Stanford needs to win their one-on-one matchups in the passing game. This is something Stanford has talked about all week long. If their receivers are winning their one-on-one matchups, I like McKee’s chances of taking advantage.
Finally, Stanford needs to play better in the special teams. They muffed some punt returns and just in general were pretty sloppy in the return game last week. If Stanford can do better in the special teams department, they should be able to at least have a shot at winning this game.
Prediction: Smart money is on USC in this game. They’re top ten and also are looking for some revenge after Stanford beat them last year. That said, I do think Stanford will play USC really tough as they usually do. I think Stanford absolutely can win this game. I’m going to say USC wins this game 38-31. Stanford will hang tough and make a game of it, but I just think USC will find a way to get even this time around.
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