USC’s first trip into Big Ten play comes with the kind of betting line that tells you exactly how the market sees this matchup: the Trojans are heavy favorites against Rutgers.
USC is 3-0, unbeaten at home, and up to No. 12 in the AP Top 25 after climbing two spots. Now the Trojans leave California for the first time this season, heading to New Jersey to face the 0-2 Scarlet Knights on Sept.
- CBS will televise the game at 12:30 p.m.
PT.
The numbers around this one are lopsided across the board. ESPN Analytics gives Southern Cal a 95.8 percent chance to win.
DraftKings has USC at -3200 on the moneyline, while FanDuel sits at -4500 and Caesars at -5000. BetMGM has not posted odds yet.
Kalshi traders are backing USC at 94 percent, and Fanatics Markets is at the same 94 percent mark, even though Fanatics Sportsbook has not released its line.
The spread and total are just as aggressive. DraftKings lists the over/under at 57.5, with USC’s over priced at -112, and has the Trojans as 24.5-point favorites at -112 to cover.
FanDuel is a touch lower on the total at 55.5, with USC over at -110, and has USC favored by 25.5 points at -114 to cover. Caesars matches the 57.5 total, puts USC over at -104, and also has the Trojans laying 24.5 points at -114 to cover.
Still, there’s enough in USC’s profile to make bettors think twice about the number. The Trojans have scored 130 points over their last three games, but they’ve been shaky against the spread.
They were 1-1 entering Week 2, then slipped after the 49-30 result, and now sit 1-2 ATS. Team Rankings puts that at a 33.3 percent cover rate and -5.2 ATS.
The defense has been inconsistent too. In his Sept. 12 postgame press conference, Lincoln Riley said plenty of players got a chance to see the field, particularly on defense. In the second half against Louisiana, USC gave up 20 points and 237 total yards.
Through Week 3, the Trojans have allowed 56 points. But the unit has also shown its ceiling, most clearly in the Week 1 shutout of Fresno State, when USC allowed just 116 yards and piled up five sacks, seven tackles for loss, a forced fumble, an interception and two safeties.
As conference play begins, there’s at least a chance USC tightens things up and leans more on its starters and top rotation pieces. The Trojans will do it against a Rutgers team that also lost to Massachusetts.
In Other News...
Rutgers Pressure Around Greg Schiano Is Already Getting Hard To Ignore
Rutgers 0-2 start has quickly turned a promising offseason into an uncomfortable early-season conversation around Greg Schiano. The program had reason to believe this fall could look different after a better NIL setup and a renewed sense of optimism, but the early results have been ugly on both sides of the ball and the noise around the head coach has grown louder as the losses have piled up.
Schiano has tried to keep the focus on his players and assistants, but the backdrop matters here. Rutgers is operating under new university leadership, and with expectations rising along with the resources, there is less patience for another slow beginning. The Scarlet Knights still have time to steady things, but the pressure surrounding the program is already hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Tech Just Got Pulled Into A Brutal Week 2 Debate
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The bigger concern is that this is the sort of start that can quickly turn a coach into part of the national conversation for all the wrong reasons. Rutgers has not just stumbled into a rough stretch, it has invited the kind of debate that follows programs when performances lag behind expectations and the results start to pile up, with the focus now shifting from what went wrong in Week 2 to what Schiano can realistically do to steady things before the season gets away. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Is Catching USC With One Clear Problem Still Showing
USCs offense looked the part in a 49-30 win over Louisiana, with Jayden Maiava throwing five touchdowns and King Miller adding 128 rushing yards and a score. Even with that kind of production, Lincoln Riley spent plenty of time after the game pointing to the sloppiness that crept in at the wrong moments, a reminder that clean football still matters when the scoreboard looks comfortable.
For Rutgers, that is the opening worth watching as the Scarlet Knights line up with a USC team still showing some rough edges beneath the talent. Big-play ability can cover a lot for a while, but penalties have a way of turning good drives into empty ones, and Riley made it clear the issue has not gone away. The Trojans have the firepower to win games anyway, but the question now is whether the details can be tightened before they become a real problem. [Read more 🡒]