It’s preseason prediction time. Jon Wilner of the Wilner Hotline is predicting every Pac-12 game this season. He is going through each team’s slate of 12 games and identifying the wins and losses on the schedule.
He has released his USC game picks for the 2022 season. Before sharing those picks, let’s underscore one key point, just to drive it home before the season actually begins: While the Utah and Notre Dame games will receive a ton of national attention and should be on in prime time with the No. 1 broadcast crew for the television networks involved, the game which is likely to make or break the USC season is that Week 4 game at Oregon State on Sept. 24.
So many accomplished and legitimately strong USC teams have lost in Corvallis. Pete Carroll stumbled in Reser Stadium on multiple occasions. Even when USC was very strong as a program, the Beavers built their dam and got in the way of the Trojans’ aspirations.
If USC can get past OSU, this season should be successful. If not, it probably won’t be.
Here are Wilner’s predictions with his analysis included: