Minnesota at USC Line
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
The No. 25 USC Trojans are set to open the 2011 college football season this Saturday at home against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. USC won 32-21 at Minnesota in 2010, despite trailing 14-13 late in the 3rd quarter. The game is scheduled for 3:30 ET at the Coliseum.
Current odds have USC favored by 23.5 points over Minnesota with the total set at 51.5.
USC finished the 2010 season with an 8-5 overall record, but their two year suspension kept them out of a bowl game. This will be the final year of their postseason ban, which means even if they win the newly formed PAC-12 South they won’t be allowed to play in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
This will be the Trojans second season under head coach Lane Kiffin, as he tries to bring this team back to the top of the college football ranks. USC has just 13 starters back from last season, but this team does such an amazing job recruiting that you barely notice who has departed.
The offense is loaded at the skill positions. Matt Barkley is one of the top quarterbacks in the country, and should have a field day throwing to wide outs Robert Woods and Kyle Prater. Woods led the team with 65 catches for 792 yards and six touchdowns as true freshman last year, and believe Prater is ready to make a similar impact in his freshman season. They also return senior running back Marc Tyler, who led the team with 913 yards and nine touchdowns.
USC will be without Tyler for the opener, who has been suspended for the opener. That doesn’t figure to hurt the offense, as USC has three more very talented running backs in Dillon Baxter, D.J. Morgan and Curtis McNeal.
Defensively the Trojans took a huge step in the wrong direction last year. They went from allowing 19.8 ppg in 2009 to giving up nearly 27 a game in 2010. There is just too much talent on this side of the ball for this team to not improve in 2011. Two players to keep your eye on are junior free safety T.J. McDonald and sophomore corner Nickell Robey.
Minnesota went just 3-9 in 2010, but they did finish the season with two impressive wins over Illinois and Iowa. Unfortunately that finish likely won’t translate over into this season, as the Trojans must learn the schemes of new head coach Jerry Kill and also have to replace starting quarterback Adam Weber, who left as the school’s all-time leading passer with 10,917 yards. Kill did an amazing job turning around a bad Northern Illinois program.
Kill does have 14 starters coming back, including eight on the defensive side of the ball. While you like to have that experience coming back on defense, the talent isn’t exactly there. Minnesota allowed 33 points and 392 yards of total offense last season. Kill will make the best of what he has to work with, but don’t expect a huge turnaround.
Offensively they will likely turn to junior MarQueis Gray at quarterback. Gray has been used as both a receiver and runner in his first two years at Minnesota. No doubt he will bring some mobility to the position, and it will be interesting to see how the offense tries to use abilities.
Betting Trends:
USC is 10-1 ATS in their last 11 games against Big Ten schools.
Minnesota is 0-5 ATS in their last 5 game against Pac-10 schools.
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