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After a devastating road loss against a weaker opponent in week three, the USC Trojans are looking to come off the bye week strong and deliver a solid performance in front of the home crowd at the Coliseum. Steve Sarkisian may have received a bit of grief for allowing his team to come out flat against Boston College in week three, but this is his chance to show he belongs at this school.
Having one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the entire nation under center each week, the Oregon State Beavers are out to shock the entire nation and steal a win — and maybe a conference title eventually — away from the Trojans this week. Oregon State is no pushover as it enters the game unbeaten in three chances this season.
The Trojans have finally found their future quarterback in Cody Kessler and if you ask anyone close to the program how elated they are about that, you will realize how much of a relief it has been to do so after the 2013 in which they couldn’t seem to land on any QB. Kessler has been solid this season, passing for 846 yards and eight touchdowns with no interceptions while completing a solid 71 percent of his passes. Kessler leads the 29th-ranked passing attack and star wide out Nelson Agholor leads all receiver with 23 catches for 212 yards and three touchdowns while freshman wide out JuJu Smith has also been impressive, catching 11 passes for 170 yards.The Trojans’ run game hasn’t been nearly as impressive as only one back has over 100 yards on the year. Javorius Allen leads all running backs with 318 yards and a touchdown on 5.3 yards per carry.
If you know anything about Oregon State’s football team, you know just how important senior quarterback Sean Mannion is to the offense. The team’s leader has to be one of the least talked about stars in all of college football and after last season, he should be on the Heisman watch list. With over 11,000 passing yards and 72 career touchdowns, Mannion has meant so much to this program and he might come close to the 15,000-yard mark before it’s all said and done. On the season, however, the senior has 903 yards and four touchdowns with just two interceptions in three games. The California native QB has found a new favorite target this season in Victor Bolden who has recorded 18 catches for 192 yards and a touchdown while Connor Hamlett and Richard Mullaney each have 11 catches and a touchdown of their own. Terran Ward and Storm Woods lead the 91st-ranked rushing attack with a combined 424 yards and six touchdowns on 77 carries.
Defensively, the Beavers have been surprisingly top-notch thus far in 2014. Oregon State ranks 18th in the nation in points allowed, allowing just 17 points per contest, while also ranking sixth in the nation, allowing just 255.3 total yards per game. The Trojans rank 31st in points allowed per game with an average of 20 and rank near the bottom of the nation in yards allowed, giving up a total of 412 per outing. USC needs to do a much better job against the run in order to keep the raucous crowd happy on Saturday evening.
Oregon State will travel to USC to take on the Trojans at 10:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, Sept. 27. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN.
PREDICTION: Oregon State 28, USC 34
Want to see the Trojans host the Beavers in week five? Check out ScoreBig for tickets.
Connor Muldowney is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connormuldowney, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google. You can also reach him at [email protected].
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