Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid made his feelings about USC crystal clear on the Oct. 24 edition of ESPN College GameDay.
The former Utah standout served as the celebrity guest picker on the Utah campus, where the show centered on USC’s trip to face unranked Wisconsin. And when it came time to weigh in on the Trojans, Kincaid didn’t just take the Badgers - he took a shot first.
"There are two schools I really dislike, and USC is one of those schools," Kincaid said, drawing a loud reaction from the crowd.
He doubled down moments later by bringing up a familiar Utah-USC memory.
"I believe a few years ago, we had a similar blackout game in which we beat them 43-42 in going for two. And I don't think they've recovered since that moment. I am taking the Badgers here."
Kincaid was one of two guests to pick Wisconsin, joining Pat McAfee. But the loudest reaction on set belonged to Kincaid, who had the advantage of having lived through the damage Utah once did to USC.
He was talking about the 2022 meeting between the former Pac-12 rivals, a game that helped derail a USC season that had been rolling under then-first-year coach Lincoln Riley. Kincaid was a major piece of that 43-42 thriller at Rice Eccles-Stadium, catching 16 passes for 234 yards and a touchdown as Utah stunned the Trojans in a game that ended with the crowd storming the field.
That loss didn’t just dent USC’s playoff hopes. It set up another meeting between the teams in December, this time with the Pac-12 title at stake. Utah handled USC again, rolling to a 47-24 win in Las Vegas to claim the conference championship.
Kincaid’s role in that one was quieter, as he finished with four catches for 40 yards. Still, by the end of his Utah career, he had beaten USC twice. He also was on the winning side of a 2021 matchup against Clay Helton’s Trojans, a 42-26 Utah victory.
Now USC heads into Madison as the favorite, though only slightly. Draft Kings had the Trojans as a three-point pick over Wisconsin, which entered the game at 4-2 and had just given the Big Ten’s last unbeaten team, UCLA, a fight before falling 17-7 at the Rose Bowl.
USC remains in the thick of both the conference-title chase and the College Football Playoff race, which gives the Trojans a chance to do something Kincaid clearly won’t enjoy: leave Wisconsin with a win.
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