Fresh off a 17-7 loss to the No. 12 UCLA Bruins this past weekend, the Wisconsin Badgers are taking on another West Coast team as the No. 16 USC Trojans come to town. It’s another huge opportunity for Luke Fickell and his squad, who sit at 4-2, looking to still put together an impressive season in Madison.
It was not a pretty outing for the Badgers this past weekend. Facing a backup quarterback making his first FBS start, Wisconsin had opportunity after opportunity to win that game, but put together an ugly offensive performance as Colton Joseph threw for just 66 yards.
Wisconsin’s run game continued to figure things out on runs to the perimeter and on quarterback designs, but they did struggle to execute as efficiently between the tackles with UCLA selling out against the run.
Now, they take on a completely different challenge with USC. The Trojans are 6-1, with their lone loss coming to Oregon. They’re coming off back-to-back wins over Washington and Penn State, and Lincoln Riley’s name has already been floated around on the hot seat if USC doesn’t deliver with their high payroll.
The Trojans have gotten to 25 points in every game this season, and they’ve hit the 30-point mark five times. Their defense, however, remains an issue, despite USC hiring Gary Patterson as its new coordinator this offseason.
Heading into the game, what are the odds for Wisconsin against USC? Here’s all the game info.
Date: Saturday, September 24
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Channel: NBC
Stadium: Camp Randall Stadium
Spread: USC -2.5
Total: 50.5 points
FanDuel has the Trojans as 2.5-point road favorites, which means on a neutral field, they still wouldn’t be favored by a touchdown. Additionally, the total is far higher than its been for previous Badgers games, sitting at 50.5, indicating the books expect USC to score on Wisconsin’s elite defense, while the Badgers also put up some points in this one.
USC was a 7.5-point home favorite over Washington two weeks ago and failed to cover, winning 25-21. They were only a 1.5-point favorite on the road against Penn State last week, and that game turned out to be close as well, with the Trojans winning 31-23.
Overall, I’m slightly surprised that the spread is not wider, but USC has also not been that impressive this season. Additionally, even with the Trojans offense being as good as it is, the total of 50.5 also just seems too high considering Wisconsin’s offensive woes and its stout defense.
It will be a primetime game for the Badgers, and perhaps an even bigger game than this weekend, considering Wisconsin would go to 5-2 with a win and have the following teams left on its schedule: Iowa, Rutgers, Maryland, Purdue, Minnesota.
Lose, and things get dicey at 4-3 with a good Iowa team up next. Win, and the Badgers have a ton of momentum going into Iowa at 5-2 with a big win on its resume.
