USC Trojans (6-0) vs. Utah Utes (4-2)
October 15, 2022 8:00 pm EDT
The Line: Utah Utes -2.5 / USC Trojans +2.5 ; Over/Under: 52.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Utah Utes and USC Trojans clash Saturday in week 7 PAC-12 college football action from Rice-Eccles Stadium. USC is coming off a matchup against Washington State. In that game the Trojans managed a 16-point win. As for Utah, they played UCLA in their last outing. The Utes would go on to fall by 10 points. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.
USC kicked off the year on a nice run, taking out Rice 66-14, Stanford 41-28 and Fresno State 45-17 in their first three games. The Trojans eked by Oregon State 17-14, then beat Arizona State 42-25 in game five on October 1.
In the Washington State game, the Trojans outscored the Cougars 13-0 in the final two quarters during a 30-14 win. Quarterback Caleb Williams finished with 188 yards and two touchdowns. Travis Dye added 28 carries for 149 yards and a touchdown of his own.
Over on the Utah side, their year began with a rough 29-26 loss to Florida. The Utes would quickly regroup for a win streak, though. Utah took out Southern Utah 73-7, San Diego State 35-7, Arizona State 34-13 and Oregon State 42-16 in the next quartet.
Matched up against UCLA, Utah went into the break with a 14-10 deficit. The Utes couldn’t crawl back and ended up losing 42-32. QB Cameron Rising had 287 yards and one interception with two rush scores, and Tavion Thomas notched 18 carries for 91 yards and a TD.
The Trojans are 6-13 ATS in their last 19 on turf and 2-5 ATS in their last seven after an ATS win. USC is 1-4 ATS in their last five in October and 1-4 ATS in the last five road games.
Meanwhile, the Utes are 4-0 ATS in their last four at home and 6-1 ATS versus a team with a winning record. Utah is 4-1 ATS in their last five overall.
PICK: I’m going to try USC. We should have a pretty fun matchup here regardless, though. The Trojans managed 369 total yards, 5.3 yards per play and 23 first downs in their win over Washington State. USC has been scoring well this year, with just one game under 30 points so far (17 versus Oregon State).
As for Utah, they gave up 502 yards and 21 first downs to UCLA. The Utes had 479 yards themselves with 31 first downs and held the ball for 33:51 but still couldn’t notch the win. That said, Utah should match up pretty well here and I like this one to be tight the whole way. Should be fun.
