Alabama vs USC early preseason fearless prediction and game preview.
CFN Podcast
Will there be a season? HOW?
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How crazy is it to try predicting a college football game months in advance when 1) there wasn’t any spring ball, 2) there aren’t any real depth charts to go off of, 3) no one has ANY clue how to get sports going again, and 4) we don’t even know what the 2020 season is going to be?
Just crazy enough to potentially get some fantastic values on the early lines.
You can bet now at BetMGM on a whole lot of college football games – including going really insane looking at lines in November – with the possibility of hitting something big.
We’ll be diving in a whole lot deeper when we do this for real just before the season – crossing fingers that there is one. But for now …
[jwplayer ofLWiSAD]
Alabama vs USC Broadcast
Date: Saturday, September 5
Game Time: COMING
Venue: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
Network: COMING
– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions
Alabama vs USC Game Preview: Preseason Version
Why USC Will Win
Exactly how much reworking does Alabama have to do?
It’s Alabama, so it’s going to have more talent than just about everyone else no matter what, but it still has to hope that Mac Jones is ready at quarterback. Or Bryce Young. Or Taulia Tagovailoa. And the secondary that had its down moments last year – relative for the Crimson Tide – has to replace four of the five normal starters.
Can Kedon Slovis and the high-powered, up-tempo USC passing game find a groove right away?
The only way this works is if the veteran Trojans are sharper out of the gate. They’ve got the experience on both sides of the ball, and they’ve got the weapons to keep up if this turns into a track meet.
Why Alabama Will Win
Pound, pound, and pound some more.
What do you do with a team full of new – but talented – starters? You make it easy by grinding out drives behind the offensive line full of NFL prospects that gets back four starters.
The Bama defense might be welcoming in a whole slew of new parts, but the offensive side should be just fine. Mac Jones has enough experience to be okay, the receiving corps lost Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs and might still be the best in college football, and RB Najee Harris appears to be ready for a massive year.
The USC run defense has good players to work around, and the 2019 stats are fine, but when teams tried to run – like Notre Dame and Utah – they didn’t have much of an issue.
What’s Going To Happen
The Trojans will be surprisingly sharp.
This isn’t going 2016 when they – okay, enough time has passed to go here – all but quit in the 52-6 loss to Bama when they managed just 194 yards of total offense.
Slovis and the passing game will be effective enough to come up with a few scoring drives, but the power of the Bama lines will make the difference in the second half.
The 2014 33-23 win over West Virginia was the last time the Tide won a regular season opener by fewer than 17 points.
The last time they won a regular season opener by fewer than double-digits? 2006 over Hawaii 25-17. The last time they lost a regular season opener? 2001 over UCLA.
The Tide will win, and they’ll score late to make it look better, but USC will provide a surprising push.
Alabama vs USC Prediction, Line: Preseason Version
Alabama 34, USC 23
Bet on this game now at BetMGM
Alabama -14
Money Line: Alabama -715; USC +500
ATS Preseason Confidence out of 5: 2
Must See Rating: 4
5: The Last Dance: Unedited version with all the swearing
1: The Last Dance: Edited version with all the beeps
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