The game is Saturday September 15th and the weather is looking anything like friendly. For the USC Trojans and Texas Longhorns they will be settling the score this weekend. Texas took the heart of the Trojans in the Rose Bowl with Vince Evans and USC beat the Longhorns last year in Los Angeles in a thrilling 2 overtime victory before 93,000 fans. Game 3 in this mini series awaits.
Both teams are a bit of a question mark to say the least. USC with freshmen QB J.T. Daniels ran into a brick wall in Palo Alto, CA against Stanford. Texas lost again on their season opener to Maryland who themselves have had a very difficult start to the season. So which team will get out of the fog they have created over themselves?
Vegas is picking the Longhorns and given the less than exciting start to the 2018 season by both schools the home field is a big advantage. Nothing else seems to align one way or the other. USC had a good defensive effort against Stanford but only scored 3 points against rival Stanford on the road. They have a lot of explaining to do this weekend. Coach Helton and Staff did not answer the difficult questions with any authority or ownership. In fact, the team did more stepping up to the media than the staff. Seems to be a problem there.
Tom Herman, the once pursued coach by USC fans, is now in his second year with Texas and although not in any immediate pressure it is Texas! He came in to the program highly touted and paid. Never easy being a millionaire football coach is it? Time is show in this business and memories and instant gratification are second to second.
USC needs to pound the rock and do what Coach Helton told the world he was going to do in 2018. Physical football. They need to run the ball 30-45 times and deliver a punishing ownership of the line of scrimmage. Texas would be wise to study the film by Stanford and look for those seam routes in the secondary. I do believe that USC’s defense will be the difference in what could be a weather game. If the Trojans can ground out a dominant attack I have faith in Clancy and his schemes to take it to Texas and exit with a victory.
Score prediction, USC 17 Texas 10
Fight On