No. 19 USC heads to Happy Valley on Saturday night with both teams carrying plenty of baggage into a game that suddenly feels like a survival test.
Penn State opened the season 3-0 in nonconference play under new coach Matt Campbell, but the bottom has dropped out since the Big Ten slate began. The Nittany Lions have lost their first two conference games, and neither performance offered much encouragement.
The offense was bogged down in defeats to Wisconsin and Northwestern, and last week the defense got pushed around by Northwestern’s rushing game. A schedule that looked manageable before the season now appears far less forgiving.
USC hasn’t exactly been cruising either. The Trojans are 5-1, and they do come in off a win, but the last three weeks have been uneasy.
They were dragged into a shootout with Rutgers, then took a 14-point home loss to Oregon, and last week nearly let a shaky Washington team spring an upset. Now they’re going on the road against a Penn State team that has plenty to prove, and another loss - with Ohio State and Indiana still on the docket - would do serious damage to USC’s playoff hopes.
Saturday also brings one of college football’s loudest stages: the White-Out game. The tradition started in 2007 and has become one of the biggest events on Penn State’s calendar, with Beaver Stadium packed in white and roaring from start to finish. The Nittany Lions are 11-7 in White-Out games, though that record reflects the fact that they usually save the setup for the toughest opponents.
There’s also a quirky quarterback wrinkle in this one. Penn State’s Rocco Becht enters with 29 career wins as a starting quarterback, the most in college football.
USC’s Jayden Maiava is tied for second with 24. By the end of the night, Becht will either stretch that lead or Maiava will close the gap.
Penn State is also trying to avoid an ugly Big Ten pattern. The Nittany Lions went 0-6 in conference play last season before James Franklin’s mid-season firing, and another loss here would send them to 0-3 in the Big Ten for the second year in a row.
That hadn’t happened since 2003 and 2004. For Matt Campbell, there’s one small historical note in play as well: if his team loses, he’d still be the first Penn State full-time head coach to begin his tenure 3-3 since Joe Paterno in 1966.
As for the pick, this is one of those games where the board doesn’t offer much comfort. The total doesn’t look appealing, Penn State has been a mess, and USC has been unreliable away from home under Lincoln Riley.
That leaves a thin edge to the Trojans catching points. Pick: USC +1.5
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USC Walks Into A White Out Scene Trojans Fans Will Notice
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Theres also a bigger feeling around the place under new head coach Matt Campbell, with the students talking openly about a season turnaround and hoping this game can help spark it. If Penn State takes care of business, the group plans to be part of the on-field celebrations, which is exactly the kind of detail Trojan fans should clock as they walk into one of the sports loudest road environments. [Read more 🡒]