Defense Might be Optional for USC & Oregon
By SBRForum.com

If you like your offenses, this is the game for you! The Oregon Ducks and the USC Trojans are going to face off on Saturday night in Eugene in one of the most highly anticipated battles of the entire NCAA football season. The college football odds show the Quack Attack favored by 7 ½-points with a ‘total’ of 70, and we have a difficult time seeing how this one isn’t going to seriously threaten to just crush the over/under.

Oregon’s offense has been out of this world this year. The team is averaging 540.1 yards and 53.4 points per game, and that’s why it hasn’t played a game even remotely close this season. We can only imagine what would happen if the Ducks actually played a full 60 minutes with their starters full bore. If you take out the fourth quarters of games this year, the Ducks have averaged 15.2 points… per quarter! Take out the third quarter of games as well, and that number goes up to 18.2 points per game quarter.

Meanwhile, USC has put up a total of 86 points over the course of the last two weeks. QB Matt Barkley has the stats to be a Heisman Trophy contender this year, as he has 2,266 passing yards to go with 25 TDs and just eight picks. However, his team has two losses this year already, and it will be underdogs in at least this game, and potentially against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on November 24th as well.

WR Marqise Lee is the best receiver in the nation, as the sophomore has already put up 1,129 yards and 10 receiving TDs this year. That’s a full career for most players, and he has accomplished all of that in just eight games. 136

Last year, these two squads combined for 73 points in a 38-35 win for USC at Autzen Stadium, and weather conditions were horrible. The Ducks put up 53 in their last trip here to the LA Coliseum in 2010.

Orange Set To Be Crushed By Trojans
By SBRForum.com

The USC Trojans spanked the Hawaii Warriors 49-10 yet saw themselves slip in the polls to No. 2. Consider it a tough week.

The Trojans will have a chance to climb back into the top spot when they visit the Big East’s Syracuse Orange. The Trojans likely don’t put too much weight in their drop for now as Alabama, who took over their top spot, will have a much tougher SEC schedule in the coming weeks. The Trojans will be hoping they find a landmine and lose, and that they can stay perfect through their to-do list.

Up first is a meeting with Syracuse and the Trojans are a massive favorite on the college football odds. The Trojans are favored by 26 and considering what we saw from Syracuse last week, it’s likely that the Trojans cover that number.

Last week, Syracuse had a rough time at home with a Northwestern team breaking in a new quarterback. Syracuse even got a huge day from quarterback Ryan Nassib, who finished with 482 yards, four touchdowns and added another 30 rushing yards. If they can’t win when he plays like that against Northwestern, they are in bad shape for this week.

The Trojans had no problems with Hawaii and Syracuse won’t offer much resistance. Now that the Trojans have proven they have a solid running game and two outstanding wide receivers to put around Heisman Trophy contending quarterback Matt Barkley, expect the Trojans to pound the Orange.

Orange head coach Doug Marrone started the season on the hot seat and back-to-back losses to start the year will only heat things up. It would have been conceivable that the Trojans come into this game overlooking Syracuse but after being dropped in the standings, look for them to come in with a chip on their shoulder and flatten the Orange.

Oregon vs. USC
Prediction: USC Trojans +14.5 point spread (November 19th 2011)
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The Southern Cal Trojans (8-2 SU, 6-4 ATS) have looked good in topping the 40-point plateau in order to win each of their last two games and cover the spread for their betting backers. The Trojans will have to be at their best when they visit the explosive, fourth-ranked Oregon Ducks (9-1 SU, 6-3-1 ATS) winners of nine straight games since dropping their regular season opener against No. 1 LSU. Southern Cal is coming off an impressive 40-17 win over Washington in which they covered the spread as an 11-point home favorite to improve to 4-1 ATS over their L/5 games. Oregon looked even better in its nationally-televised prime time matchup against No. 9 Stanford last Week, spanking the Cardinal 53-30 to snap their opponent’s season-long unbeaten SU and ATS winning streaks. The Ducks have posted an unbeaten 3-0-1 ATS mark over its last four games while going 5-1-1 ATS over its L/7 games overall.

Analysis: I like the Ducks a lot and I believe they’ll be on their ‘A’ game again this Week, but not to the point where they blow out the Trojans by enough points to cover the spread in this one. USC is 8-2 ATS in its L/10 road games and 11-3 ATS in its L/14 games as a road underdog. Oregon is 11-5-2 ATS in their L/18 home games and 6-1-1 ATS in its L/8 games against conference opponents, but something tells me USC is coming to play in this one. There aren’t many quarterbacks in the country better than Oregon’s Darron Thomas, but USC’s gifted Matt Barkley just so happens to be one of them! I like the Trojans, plus the points, gridiron gamblers.

USC vs. Notre Dame
Prediction: Notre Dame -9 (October 22nd 2011)
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Last November, Notre Dame snapped an 8-game losing streak against USC with a 20-16 victory in Los Angeles. I believe that win will serve as the turning point in this rivalry. The Irish haven’t played since Oct. 8, and this will be the first night game at Notre Dame Stadium since 1990. In other words, the Golden Domers will be chomping at the bit to get on the field, and they’ll be pumped up by the electric atmosphere. Bye weeks have typically treated the Irish well as they are 60-15-2 all-time following an off week. The Fighting Irish are 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games following a bye week.

The USC defense has been extremely suspect against the pass. In fact, it ranks 105th in the country with 271.7 passing yards allowed per game. That likely doesn’t bode well for the Trojans. Led by QB Tommy Rees and WR Michael Floyd, Notre Dame has one of the best passing attacks in the country. Floyd will be a nightmare cover for the USC secondary. We’re talking about a guy who is tied for 6th with nearly 9 catches per game. He also ranks 13th nationally with 106.5 receiving yards per contest. Don’t be surprised if he makes some noise in the return game as well. Coach Kelly has said he’ll use Floyd as a returner this week.

The USC offense is pretty one-dimensional, and after losing leading rusher Marc Tyler to a shoulder injury, it will likely become even more pass happy. This will allow the Notre Dame front to put a hand in the dirt and really get after Matt Barkley.

There is also a strong situational element in support of our play. Plays against underdogs of 3.5 to 10 points off 2 straight wins against conference rivals, provided they have won 80% or more of their games on the season and are matched up against a team with a winning record, are 30-6 ATS the last 5 seasons. Teams fitting into this situation have lost by an average of 18.1 points. We’ll take Notre Dame.

With last Saturday’s strong 3-1 showing, Jimmy Boyd’s Saturday picks improved to an INSANE 33-15 (69%) the last 13 weeks! Mr. Saturday keeps the money train rolling this week with his UNC/Clemson 5* 2011 ACC Game of the Year (ESPN), Wisconsin/Michigan State 4* *Marquee Matchup* (ESPN) and Oklahoma State/Missouri 3* Big 12 SMASH (FX)!

Deadly 7-0 L7 MLB 5* Top Plays! With a Perfect 2-0 start in the World Series, Jimmy improved to a White Hot 10-1 (91%) his L11 & 24-6 (80%) his L30 MLB Sides! His 5* 2011 World Series Game of the Year goes Saturday as well. Don’t miss out on Jimmy Boyd’s premium college football picks on October 22nd 2011 at Touthouse.com.