Bobby Maxwell
Saturday's winners...
600-Unit Pac-10 Book Buster - USC TROJANS
It’s time for USC to finally get in the win column in the Pac-10 standings. The Trojans have lost two games in conference play, both on last-second field goals. They have played damn well, especially in last week’s 37-35 loss at Stanford as 10-point underdogs.
USC had 500 yards of total offense and QB Matt Barkley is looking better every week, finishing with 390 yards and three scores against the Cardinal. WR Robert Woods was huge as well, with 12 catches for 224 yards as he completely ran through the Stanford defense.
The Trojans have only been home for two games this season and honestly didn’t look very good in either contest, losing 32-31 to Washington as nine-point favorites and edging Virginia 17-14 as 20-point favorites. All that will turn around today when they welcome in Cal, who they have beaten six straight times four straight times in Southern California.
In the last two seasons, the Trojans have outscored Cal 47-6 and four of the last five years they have held the Golden Bears to 10 points or less (4-1 ATS).
Cal comes into this one off a 35-7 home win over UCLA, but showed a lack of offense last time it took to the road, losing 10-9 in Tucson against Arizona. They are 0-2 on the road this season and on ATS slides of 2-6 after a straight-up win and 2-6-1 as a ‘dog of up to three points.
USC comes into this one on ATS surges of 15-5 after a straight-up loss. The favorite is 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings in this series and I expect that USC offense to dominate this one and deliver a big home win. Play the Trojans as they win this one by two touchdowns.
100-Unit Big Ten Smart Play - WISCONSIN BADGERS
Ohio State has gone on the road just once this season and they haven’t exactly played a tough schedule to this point. That’s why I’m going to grab the points with Wisconsin in this huge Big Ten matchup from Madison, Wisc.
The crowd is going to be going crazy for the Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium where Wisconsin is 40-4 since the start of the 2004 season. And this rare night game gives the crowd extra time to get more boisterous and support their Badgers, who have won 25 of their last 28 night games.
Wisconsin can put up some big offensive numbers and are averaging 450 yards per game. They have a QB in Scott Tolzien who has the experience and won’t make the bad decisions and they have a pair of RBs in John Clay and James White who have the speed and physicality to make things very tough on the Buckeyes.
In last week’s 41-23 home win over Minnesota, the Badgers ran for 250 yards with both White and Clay topping the 100-yard mark. White had 118 yards and two scores while Clay had 111 yards and three TDs.
Ohio State beat Wisconsin 31-13 a year ago with Buckeyes’ QB Terrelle Pryor having a below-average game with just 87 yards passing, an interception and only 35 yards rushing on 10 carries. The Buckeyes scored 21 of their 31 points on returns (two INT returns and a kickoff return) as the Wisconsin defense limited them to just 184 total yards.
I think this year’s Badgers can do the same thing and limit the Ohio State offense today in Madison. It’s going to be the offense that has to deliver. This is the biggest game at Camp Randall Stadium in years and I expect them to play a great game.
The underdog is 7-3 ATS in the last 10 meetings between these two teams and Wisconsin is 9-4-1 ATS the last 14 games as a home underdog. Grab the points and go with Wisconsin tonight in this huge Big Ten showdown.