USC vs. Oregon State: TV info, betting odds, and expert predictions
People are falling over themselves to place bets on Oregon State. The 3-0 Beavers host the 3-0 and seventh-ranked USC Trojans Saturday evening in a game many are saying has the most upset potential in all of college football for Week 4.
Oregon State and coach Jonathan Smith have a chance to start 4-0 for the first time since 2012. Smith has done wonders to rebuild the Beaver program, taking them from doormat in the Pac-12 to respectability. They have USC’s full attention. Oregon State beat USC last season, 45-27, for what was the program’s first win in the L.A. Coliseum in more than six decades.
“This is the best offense we’ve played so far,” Smith said of USC this week.
He was particularly complimentary of USC quarterback Caleb Williams.
“Just not a lot of flaws,” Smith said. “Accurate, poised in the pocket. That’s not easy to do. These guys that are athletic enough to extend the play, oftentimes they get quick to doing that. This guy’s going to stand in the pocket, keep his eyes down the field.”
USC head coach Lincoln Riley was equally respectful of the way Smith has his team playing.
“A lot of challenges. They do a good job in their different personnel groupings,” Riley said. “They’re very creative with the personnel that they use. They’ve certainly got a system that they believe in and a style of ball they believe in and they do it very well.”
USC is looking for another bullet point to add to what it hopes is a College Football Playoff résumé. Oregon State is hoping to put the rest of the country on notice that it is to be taken seriously this season.
Here are all the details you need for the game.
TV and Kickoff Time
Kickoff time: 6:30 p.m. PT
TV Network: Pac-12 Network
Betting odds
Line: USC -6
Total: 70.5
Money line: USC -235, Oregon State +190
Expert predictions
ESPN’s FPI gives USC a 71.1% chance of beating the Beavers.
Bill Connelly’s SP+ is predicting a 31-28 USC win.
USCFootball.com’s Ryan Abraham has the Trojans winning it and covering the spread:
USC’s offense is too powerful right now. They showed they can score in different ways against Fresno State with longer, sustained drives where they had to convert third downs. Any one-score spread at this point is not enough points to take me off my streak of picking the Trojans. I think USC wins by 14.
BeaverBlitz’s Carter Bahns has the Trojans winning it 42-24:
I think Oregon State has a good enough offense to hang with USC in a shootout, and that’s the direction I see Saturday’s game heading. This has the potential to swing the Beavers’ way, but I think USC is going to score enough to avoid the upset.
The Oregonian’s Nick Daschel is picking the Beavers to pull the upset, 31-27.