USC Trojans vs. Texas Longhorns
This is the game that we have been looking forward to all year; two undefeated teams who have been ranked #1 and #2 from wire to wire this season. Texas returns to Pasadena as the reigning Rose Bowl Champions and Southern California will drive across town to defend their National Championship title. This may be one of the most hyped games to be played in years but the truth of the matter is, it doesn?t get any better than this, fellas.
The Trojans of USC have won 34 consecutive games and 45 out of their last 46. No one has beaten this team since California beat them in triple overtime in September of 2003. The offense features the past two Heisman winners in QB Matt Leinart and RB Reggie Bush and those two are joined in the backfield by TB Lendale White who is a serious offensive threat as well. This team has scored an average of 50 points and has accumulated an unbelievable 580 yards per game. The Trojans seem to be unstoppable and are clearly one of the best college football teams to ever play the game. If they have any weakness, it has to be the lack of intensity with which they have played in the first half in several games this season.
The Trojans have trailed at halftime this year in games against Oregon, Arizona State, Notre Dame and Fresno State. To their credit, they rallied in each of those games in route to victory as the coaching staff made the necessary adjustments in the locker room at halftime. It took some questionable officiating and some last second heroics by Leinart to secure a 34-31 win over the Irish in South Bend and a USC comeback in the last three minutes in the game against Fresno to keep the Trojans remarkable streak alive. Fresno went on to lose their next three games to Nevada, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa by an average score of 36-29 and in the Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame lost by two touchdowns to Ohio State and allowed the Buckeyes to score 34 points in them which was the same number they gave up to USC. The Irish are by far the best defense that USC has faced this season and they allowed their opponents to score an average of over 24 points per game.
The USC defense has allowed over three touchdowns per game this season against teams that averaged 31 points per game. Five of the teams they beat in 2005 had losing records and averaged 26.6 points per game yet against powerhouse USC, those five teams still averaged 19.2 points in those games. Regardless of their record over the last two seasons, the fact remains that USC has struggled defensively this year and have won several of their games on the backs of their explosive offense. The special teams? play of the Trojans has also been a weak spot, particularly on kick coverage.
Texas QB Vince Young is the undisputed superstar on this team and has matured into a true leader of this team. Young finished in second place in this year?s Heisman voting and has left many defenses scratching their heads with his amazing moves. When he has been allowed to scramble outside with the ball, he has been very difficult to bring down. Young came into this season to prove those wrong who said that he could not pass the ball and did so by leading the NCAA in passing efficiency rating by the end of the season.
The Longhorns? rushing game has five different players, including Young, who have combined for 453 rush attempts, 2,807 yards and 6.2 yards per carry. Although Young is the teams second leading rusher with 793 yards, the offensive line has played the run very well in allowing Ramonce Taylor and Jamaal Charles to average 7.9 and 7.3 yards per carry, respectively. In all, Texas has five players with more than 400 yards rushing and a combined 48 rushing touchdowns. Texas must control the football on the ground and chew time off the clock much the way Notre Dame did at home to USC. They can't get forced into situations where the Trojans know Young is going to throw.
The edge that the Longhorns will have in today?s game is their superb defense which has allowed only 14.6 points per game this season. In the four halves of play between halftime in the Oklahoma State game and halftime in the game against Kansas, the Texas defense did not allow a single point by the three opponents they played over that span. Few, if any, other teams in the country can make that claim regardless of who they were playing against.
The Longhorns have also been a scoring machine this year by averaging 51 points per game. Only Ohio State was able to hold this team to less than 40 points in a game played at the Horseshoe on September 10th. Against this year's bowl teams, Texas went 7-0 SU and ATS winning by an average of 35 points per game. If any team in the country has a chance of beating the Trojans, it is Texas and I believe that the difference will be in the defensive play of both teams with the Longhorns coming out on top in a game that may go down to the wire.
10* - Texas Longhorns ML (+235)
This is the game that we have been looking forward to all year; two undefeated teams who have been ranked #1 and #2 from wire to wire this season. Texas returns to Pasadena as the reigning Rose Bowl Champions and Southern California will drive across town to defend their National Championship title. This may be one of the most hyped games to be played in years but the truth of the matter is, it doesn?t get any better than this, fellas.
The Trojans of USC have won 34 consecutive games and 45 out of their last 46. No one has beaten this team since California beat them in triple overtime in September of 2003. The offense features the past two Heisman winners in QB Matt Leinart and RB Reggie Bush and those two are joined in the backfield by TB Lendale White who is a serious offensive threat as well. This team has scored an average of 50 points and has accumulated an unbelievable 580 yards per game. The Trojans seem to be unstoppable and are clearly one of the best college football teams to ever play the game. If they have any weakness, it has to be the lack of intensity with which they have played in the first half in several games this season.
The Trojans have trailed at halftime this year in games against Oregon, Arizona State, Notre Dame and Fresno State. To their credit, they rallied in each of those games in route to victory as the coaching staff made the necessary adjustments in the locker room at halftime. It took some questionable officiating and some last second heroics by Leinart to secure a 34-31 win over the Irish in South Bend and a USC comeback in the last three minutes in the game against Fresno to keep the Trojans remarkable streak alive. Fresno went on to lose their next three games to Nevada, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa by an average score of 36-29 and in the Fiesta Bowl, Notre Dame lost by two touchdowns to Ohio State and allowed the Buckeyes to score 34 points in them which was the same number they gave up to USC. The Irish are by far the best defense that USC has faced this season and they allowed their opponents to score an average of over 24 points per game.
The USC defense has allowed over three touchdowns per game this season against teams that averaged 31 points per game. Five of the teams they beat in 2005 had losing records and averaged 26.6 points per game yet against powerhouse USC, those five teams still averaged 19.2 points in those games. Regardless of their record over the last two seasons, the fact remains that USC has struggled defensively this year and have won several of their games on the backs of their explosive offense. The special teams? play of the Trojans has also been a weak spot, particularly on kick coverage.
Texas QB Vince Young is the undisputed superstar on this team and has matured into a true leader of this team. Young finished in second place in this year?s Heisman voting and has left many defenses scratching their heads with his amazing moves. When he has been allowed to scramble outside with the ball, he has been very difficult to bring down. Young came into this season to prove those wrong who said that he could not pass the ball and did so by leading the NCAA in passing efficiency rating by the end of the season.
The Longhorns? rushing game has five different players, including Young, who have combined for 453 rush attempts, 2,807 yards and 6.2 yards per carry. Although Young is the teams second leading rusher with 793 yards, the offensive line has played the run very well in allowing Ramonce Taylor and Jamaal Charles to average 7.9 and 7.3 yards per carry, respectively. In all, Texas has five players with more than 400 yards rushing and a combined 48 rushing touchdowns. Texas must control the football on the ground and chew time off the clock much the way Notre Dame did at home to USC. They can't get forced into situations where the Trojans know Young is going to throw.
The edge that the Longhorns will have in today?s game is their superb defense which has allowed only 14.6 points per game this season. In the four halves of play between halftime in the Oklahoma State game and halftime in the game against Kansas, the Texas defense did not allow a single point by the three opponents they played over that span. Few, if any, other teams in the country can make that claim regardless of who they were playing against.
The Longhorns have also been a scoring machine this year by averaging 51 points per game. Only Ohio State was able to hold this team to less than 40 points in a game played at the Horseshoe on September 10th. Against this year's bowl teams, Texas went 7-0 SU and ATS winning by an average of 35 points per game. If any team in the country has a chance of beating the Trojans, it is Texas and I believe that the difference will be in the defensive play of both teams with the Longhorns coming out on top in a game that may go down to the wire.
10* - Texas Longhorns ML (+235)
