First place in the PAC-12 South will be on the line when the Arizona Wildcats take on the USC Trojans this Saturday night. Everyone was calling for USC to be upset when it went into the desert to take on Arizona State, but the Trojans responded with their most resounding win this year. They dominated the Sun Devils from start to finish in an easy 48-17 victory. Now, they must face another team from the Grand Canyon State, with a phenom at quarterback.
Watch this regular season Week 10 matchup live on Saturday, November 4, 2017, at 10:45 p.m. ET at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. This game will be broadcast on ESPN.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Arizona +7
USC -7
Over/Under 74
Odds Analysis
USC has been one of the worst teams to bet on this year. The Trojans were 1-7 ATS with the one cover coming against Stanford before last week’s thumping of Arizona State. Once again, USC came into the season with high expectations, but the team has not been able to live up to them.
The Wildcats looked like they would be at the bottom of the division at the start of the year, but they have found new life thanks to Khalil Tate. Tate has been phenomenal since taking over for Brandon Dawkins at quarterback and has given this team the shot in the arm it needed. He continues to lead this team to victories and they have scored at least 45 points in four straight games with him under center. All of those games sailed over the total.
Player to Watch
At this point, it’s impossible to not talk about Tate when discussing the Wildcats. He played sparingly through the first four games of the season, but announced his presence with authority against Colorado. In that game, he set a PAC-12 record for rushing yards for a quarterback with 327 yards. No team has been able to stop him yet on the ground and that has helped Arizona win four in a row.
Tate should be getting consideration for the Heisman at this point. He was undoubtedly the best quarterback in the country during the month of October thanks to his legs. He is averaging 13.4 yards per carry this season and has pulled off at least one 70-yard run in each of his last four games.
Additionally, he has started to showcase his arm too. Tate is averaging 11.7 yards per throw now and he torched Washington State last week after the Cougars dared him to put it in the air. He completed 10 of 17 passes for 275 yards and two scores in that game to add to his growing legend.
Matchup to Watch
Tate has needed to keep this offense productive because the defense has been bad. The Wildcats are allowing 448 yards per game this season and every team in the conference has scored at least 30 points on this defense.
Sam Darnold and Ronald Jones will be looking to exploit this defense. Darnold has come on over the last few games after a slow start to the season, and is starting to look like the quarterback we saw last year. He is still having some accuracy issues, but is no longer throwing interceptions like he was earlier in the year.
Jones has averaged 6.5 yards per carry in four of his last five starts, with the one exception being in the loss to Notre Dame. He bulldozed his way to a career performance against Arizona State last week and will be looking for more of the same here.
Free ATS Pick
I keep thinking that some team will find a way to stop Tate, but he continues to be unsinkable. Until some team finds a way to stop him, I’m going to back him at this point. USC’s defense has been susceptible to the run this year and that’s enough for me to call for the upset.
College Football Odds: Arizona 41, USC 38
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