USC opened the Lincoln Riley era with an emphatic 66-14 win over Rice. The Owls certainly aren’t the stiffest competition the Trojans will face this season, but it was nonetheless an impressive way to begin the season. It’ll mean nothing, though, if Riley and his squad can’t follow it up with another win in Week 2.

The first test of the Riley era arrives in the form of the Stanford Cardinal. Fresh off its own blowout win — 41-10 over Colgate — Stanford welcomes the Trojans to Stanford Stadium on Saturday for a rivalry game that has been particularly close in recent years.

And Bill Connelly’s SP+ system thinks the Trojans win by more than a touchdown.

The predictive model developed by ESPN’s Connelly is calling for a 34-25 USC win. USC opened as a 12.5-point favorite in the game, but that spread has dropped below 10 since. At FanDuel, it’s a 7.5-point line favoring the Trojans. Connelly’s system lists a nine-point spread. Either way, SP+ sees the Trojans covering.

It also predicts the under will hit for the game total — set at 66.5 at FanDuel.

Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee completed 22 of his 27 pass attempts for 308 yards and two scores in the team’s win over Colgate. The Cardinal put up 497 yards of offense at nearly 9 yards per play. The potential is there for a shootout on Saturday.

“We’re excited about going and playing on the road, first conference game,” Riley said earlier this week. “As a program, if you want to be championship-level, you’ve got to embrace going and playing on the road. These conference road games are like gold. You’ve got to be ready to bring your very best. That’s what it takes on the road and that’s what it’ll take Saturday.”

Saturday’s game is slated for a 4:30 p.m. PT kick on ABC.