Stanford is riding a four-game winning streak against USC as it enters this weekend’s matchup with its SoCal rival, marking the most consecutive games the Cardinal has ever won against the Trojans. Each of Stanford’s last three wins, however, has been decided by a very close margin. USC has been playing much better football since the firing of head coach Lane Kiffin, and with College GameDay on hand, many are dubbing this a trap game for the No. 4 Card, as it opened as just a three-point favorite. We asked football writers Winston Shi, David Cohn and Do-Hyoung Park: Could this be the year that the Trojans get revenge?
Winston: No. On the contrary, since Stanford has won every single football game against the University of Southern California since I started following Stanford football, my empirical findings show that Stanford will beat USC every year until the end of time.
In all seriousness, let’s not think that the possibility of losing means that Stanford will lose — at least not this year. You have to lose occasionally for a rivalry to be meaningful, much as I hate to admit it. But I can say that I hope that Stanford will never lose to USC because I know they will eventually. 2013, however, doesn’t look to be the Trojans’ year.
During USC’s recent run of good form, its once-putrid, now-passable offense has allowed defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast to flash the aggressiveness that made him famous — something that he couldn’t do at Cal. If Stanford can stop the USC offense, Pendergast’s defense will suffer in turn.
Conversely, if Stanford doesn’t come out with guns blazing, the defense is still good enough to win the game, but Marqise Lee is one of the precious few wideouts in the country that can trash the Stanford secondary on his day. Neither USC’s track record nor its depth suggests that it can reliably take on the Cardinal, but can it get lucky on a few deep routes? Definitely. Do I think it will happen? No. Southern Cal is not at Stanford’s level yet. The Trojans got stomped by ASU and also lost to WSU and Notre Dame. Hire Kiffin.
David: I do not believe Stanford is due for a loss, at least not after the complete annihilation of the Oregon Ducks that I witnessed last Thursday night. If Stanford plays at a level even remotely close to that of its showing against the Ducks, USC does not stand a chance, regardless of any potential home-field advantage.
However, if the Cardinal is off its game, particularly on offense, Saturday’s matchup could turn into a defensive slugfest that would ironically benefit the Trojans. I say ironically because Stanford has built a perennial BCS-contending program by winning low-scoring, defensive contests. However, SC’s one-dimensional offense will struggle mightily to score on one of the best defensive units in the country, so the Trojans will have to rely on their own talented defense in order to win.
Another factor that could cause the Card problems on Saturday is the atmosphere at the Coliseum. The Coliseum is by far the largest stadium in the Pac-12, and as such, can be extremely loud when a marquee team like Stanford visits Los Angeles. As the Cardinal saw in 2011, the crowd will be hostile and engaged from the opening kickoff, so it is imperative that Stanford takes the Trojan fans out of the game with an early touchdown or turnover.
Ultimately, if the Card puts up a solid performance in all three facets of the game, Stanford will win comfortably without much angst. However, if the Cardinal struggles, USC will be competitive throughout and have a chance to win.
Do: If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my time on the Farm, it’s the sentiment that Sam insinuated in his Monday column — that when facing the Men of Troy, the game is always somehow closer than everybody expects it to be.
That being said, Stanford has had more consistent play on both sides of the ball all year, and although the Trojans are currently on the rise, is there any better boost to a team’s confidence than not just beating, but thoroughly crushing a seemingly invincible Oregon team? I have no doubt that Stanford’s players will storm the Coliseum with extra swagger in their steps and look to finish the meat of their Pac-12 journey with a flourish, especially against the hated Trojans.
USC’s offense has been nothing more than mediocre all year and has also been woefully inconsistent. Although wideouts Marqise Lee and Nelson Agholor are capable of burning secondaries and making explosive plays, quarterback Cody Kessler is inexperienced. After seeing how the Cardinal defense shut down the connection between the more experienced Sean Mannion and Brandin Cooks in Corvallis, I don’t think either Lee or Agholor are due for big games.
In addition, we’ve all seen what Stanford’s rush defense is capable of. It held Oregon — Oregon! — to just 62 yards on the ground and is again top 10 in the nation with 98.7 rush yards allowed per game. Although USC is bigger up front than Oregon and has a more physical stable of backs, I just don’t see the Trojan offense gashing the Stanford defense. Although it might not be a blowout, I think that Stanford should comfortably win its final Pac-12 challenge (sorry, Cal) on the back of its defense.
Winston Shi, David Cohn and Do-Hyoung Park are co-founders of the “Lane Kiffin for President” club on Stanford’s campus and are hoping to establish an outreach hub in Los Angeles when they head to the Coliseum this weekend for the game. Tell them why that might be a bad idea at wshi94 ‘at’ stanford.edu, dmcohn ‘at’ stanford.edu and dpark027 ‘at’ stanford.edu.