USC a Touchdown Favorite

The 2017 Rose Bowl will pit the USC Trojans and the Penn State Nittany Lions in what should be a dogfight. No. 5 Penn State and No. 9 USC are the Rising Pheonix’s  of college football. Both reclaimed their status after NCAA sanctions and surged into the postseason after sputtering Septembers. Penn State won the Big Ten Conference championship and was left out of the College Football Playoff.

The Trojans (9-3) have won eight in a row. This includes a victory against Washington. Big Ten champion Penn State (11-2) has won nine straight. Including a home victory over playoff-bound Ohio State.

Oddsmakers currently have the Trojans listed as 7-point favorites versus the Nittany Lions, while the game’s total is sitting at 61.

Penn State won its last outing, a 38-31 result against the Wisconsin Badgers on December 03. Penn State covered in that game as a +2.5-point underdog, while the 69 combined points took the game OVER the total. Penn State roared back to win its game 38-31 after trailing 28-7. The Nittany Lions are relentless, posting a plus-193 scoring average in the second half.

In their last action, USC was a 45-27 winner at home against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They covered the -17.5-point spread as favorites, while the combined score (72) was profitable news for OVER bettors. Sam Darnold leads the nation’s freshmen in passing efficiency with a 161.0 rating. He leads all freshman also hwith a 68.1 % completion percentage , 15 touchdown passes,  and 8.4 yards per attempt . He threw multiple scoring passes in each of the team’s eight consecutive wins, the longest streak by a USC quarterback since Matt Leinart did so 15 times in a row between 2003 and 2004.

Rose Bowl Stats and Matchups

USC:
Team record: 9-3 SU,8-4 ATS
Current Streak: won 8 straight games.
Southern California is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Southern California is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Southern California’s last 8 games

Penn State:
Team record: 11-2 SU,9-3-1 ATS
Current Streak: won 9 straight games.
Penn State is 5-0 ATS in its last 5 games
Penn State is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Penn State’s last 6 games

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