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The Rice Owls take on the USC Trojans. Check out our college football odds series for our Rice USC prediction and pick.
The moment has arrived. Lincoln Riley will coach his first game with the USC Trojans after leaving the Oklahoma Sooners. The move stunned the college football world late last November.
The obvious question surrounding USC in Year 1 under Riley: Can the Trojans go from being 4-8 to Pac-12 champions in one year? Former USC coach Clay Helton left behind a mess. This is why Riley hit the transfer portal so hard. He didn't want to coach too many of Helton's leftover players — a few, sure, but not the whole roster. More than a dozen players have both left and entered the program. Substantial roster churn has occurred. Few rosters have been more dramatically remade in one season than this USC group. Riley hopes all the pieces can come together and create a strong season which will enable USC to quickly turn the page from Helton.
The big questions for USC are all on defense. The offense is expected to be very prolific and potent as long as the starting offensive linemen stay healthy. USC's offensive line has great starters, but not a lot of proven support behind them. That position group needs to avoid injury this year in order for everything to go smoothly. As long as that unit remains healthy, the USC offense should be close to unstoppable.
On defense? This is where the concerns abound. Korey Foreman, the rush end who was a highly-touted recruit coming out of high school, has been dogged by constant health problems. He missed a notable portion of August practice and is not fully on schedule in terms of his stamina or his overall development. Romello Height, a rush end from Auburn, has also battled health problems, but he recently declared himself fit and ready to play. The defensive line situation is unsettled. One should see a lot of players rotated in and through the lineup on Saturday against Rice.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Rice-USC College Football odds.
College Football Odds: Rice-USC Odds
Rice Owls: +32.5 (-112)
USC Trojans: -32.5 (-110)
Over: 61.5 (-110)
Article Continues Below
Under: 61.5 (-110)
Why Rice Could Cover the Spread
Rice has not had much success as a program over the past several years, but head coach Mike Bloomgren is a David Shaw protege. He has faced USC plenty of times on the Stanford coaching staff. Obviously, this is a different USC team, but the awareness of personnel is certainly going to be better than other coaches of small-conference teams which might have faced USC in this situation. Stanford plays USC in Week 2. You know that Bloomgren has consulted David Shaw about the Trojans. Rice might have a good plan here. Also, the temperature for this game at kickoff time is expected to be near 95 degrees. That could make USC emphasize ball control more than scoring quickly, which would bring down the Trojans' point total and enable Rice to cover the spread in a speedy game which might take only three hours to play. You might not see a ton of USC downfield passes — a few for sure, but not a complete aerial circus — in these weather conditions.
Why USC Could Cover the Spread
After a miserable 2021 season, USC wants to take out its frustrations on the rest of college football and establish itself as a program which is once again nationally relevant under Lincoln Riley. Caleb Williams, Jordan Addison, Travis Dye, and all the other elite skill-position players on this team will want to make a strong opening statement. That desire could easily lead USC to get a 28-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of the game. If USC is really sharp and focused, it will win this game by 49 or more points.
Final Rice-USC Prediction & Pick
USC could easily blow out Rice, but the hot weather might make Lincoln Riley pull back just enough to allow Rice to cover the spread. Frankly, this is a good stay-away game, but if you absolutely insist on a pick, Rice plus the points is probably better.
Final Rice-USC Prediction & Pick: Rice +32.5
