Stanford has had roughly eight full days off since it upended the Oregon Ducks at home last Thursday. The Cardinal looked as impressive as ever in that demolition, and they reaffirmed their status as an elite program.

But this next game is a very tough spot for them. They will be favored by 3.5-4 points as they enter the Los Angeles Coliseum come 8 p.m. Saturday, and they should expect to be in for a battle.

The Trojans have been a completely different group under Ed Orgeron. Orgeron has never been regarded as a great coach, but rather a master recruiter. Either way, this Trojan team has responded to him in an incredibly favorable manner following Lane Kiffin’s departure from the program. Perhaps anyone could be coaching the Trojans and their players would be happy, but Oregeron has them thinking big things in a conference that is still up for grabs.

Since the first half of their Thursday night special with Arizona back on October 10th, USC has been far more loose on offense. They have made a commitment to running the football with power formations and also downsized their playbook. All the while, they have progressed in making the vertical pass a critical element to their style.

Silas Redd is expected to miss this game due to injury, but that really won’t matter. Tre Madden, Javorious Allen and Justin Davis all have serious potential and could play a factor in this game at running back. But the key to beating the Cardinal is through the air and stopping their power run game.

The Cardinal have been challenged on a few occasions. The Sun Devils of ASU gave them a run in the second half of a game that forced them to come behind from a large deficit. ASU was able to expose their corners at times, and Oregon did likewise.

As bad of a beat down as as the Cardinals delivered, that game last Thursday changed on a few critical plays, the most decisive being a pass interference nullifying a would be Kevin Horgan interception inside the red zone.

Prior to that, the Ducks had, like the Sun Devils before them, exhibited a passing attack that kept the Cardinal off balance, and that’s real your best bet against them. They are so well coached and so disciplined that you can’t expect to gash them and find big seems in their defense.

The Trojans have two of the nation’s best receivers and a quarterback who is growing with confidence by the minute. Nelson Agholor and Marquise Lee are matchup nightmares on the perimeter and I look for USC to be able to take advantage of them at times so long as Cody Kessler avoids critical errors and the Trojans play quality football as a whole on offense.

Stanford has good secondary pieces, but their corners are overmatched physically here. They will need to use Ed Reynolds deep at all times in order to make sure the back end is protected given USC’s penchant for hitting the deep ball in the last month. That restricts what Reynolds can do in the intermediate and short passing games.

Moving over to the USC defense, this group has a lot of athleticism and skill as well. As bad as USC looked in Kiffin’s final days, there is no question that they recruited quite a roster.

Stanford runs the football in a truly old fashioned manner. They put extra linemen into the game and and execute when defenses know what is coming. USC has the starters to at least neutralize Stanford and force them into more difficult third down scenarios. I do question their overall depth along the defensive front as a factor that could significantly influence this game.

Oregon did not do a good job tackling at the point of first contact. The Cardinal had a large number of third downs and converted the vast majority of them. They dominated time of possession by utilizing all three downs and usually picking up 10-11 yards in the process, thus extending drives into marathon events.

USC has to be more concerned with getting guys down than delivering big hits. They also have to make sure Kevin Hogan doesn’t get up the field in the event of a scramble situation.

You have to wish the Trojans were getting more points. But this is as fair a number as can be delivered given what Vegas knows about collegiate bettors right now. Stanford will enter as everyone’s darling given the way they played against the Ducks that night.

But, USC as a program has pulled the upset on several occasions in recent years, and this one comes at home. I like the way USC plays and feel as if they have plenty here to win this outright. Getting them in excess of a field goal is worth the play to me and poses enough value given what the Trojans can do offensively here.

USC +4