Utah football expert Matt Nigbur is a co-host of the No Truck Stops Pac-12 podcast. We have been asking Matt a lot of different questions about the Utes and the Trojans before they meet this Saturday in Salt Lake City.
We asked him who will win this game.
Nigbur’s answer:
“I have such a bad read on this game. Utah should be able to move the ball offensively at will against this USC defense, yet we saw them just a week ago struggle against a similar defense. The matchup with the USC offense and typical Utah defense is one that should work well enough, but this is not the typical Utah defense. The reality is that USC has shown some mediocrity at times offensively. The offensive line will give up pressure, and nobody is better throwing on the run while getting hit than they are in a clean pocket.
“Utah also is a completely different team at home, and night games in Rice-Eccles Stadium are a top-three environment in the conference. Factoring for the altitude change from sea level (which is a real scientific thing unlike the humidity those Florida freaks tried to tell me about), USC understandably is beatable in SLC. Plus, you know, Pac-12 vibes mandate an eventual four-way tie between Utah, USC, UCLA, and Oregon.
“Utah 38, USC 37.”
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