The USC Trojans play Arizona State this Saturday, but with ASU hugely banged up, that game doesn’t figure to be remotely close. The players and coaches need to handle that piece of business, but fans and writers can certainly start to dig into the USC-Colorado game in one week. That’s the big pre-Notre Dame showcase for the Trojans, the one game before Notre Dame which might unearth significant insights into this team.
Stanford and Nevada and San Jose State did not.
If we want to learn more about Colorado, we have to learn more about the CU-Oregon game this coming Saturday. Follow Buffaloes Wire and Ducks Wire for more on this game.
We turned to our Pac-12 expert panel from Buffaloes and Ducks Wire writers (plus Trojans Wire, of course!) for opinions on this contest.
Start with this question: Does the Travis Hunter injury eliminate any chance for Colorado to win?
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Don Smalley, Ducks Wire: It severely hurts their chances for sure. Even with Hunter, the Buffs were going to be double-digit underdogs.
Zachary Neel, Ducks Wire: The Travis Hunter injury certainly hurts Colorado’s chances to win this game, but I think their chances were a bit overblown even with Hunter on the field to be honest. Hunter is a great player, but he is only 1/11th of the entire show.
Matt Wadleigh, Trojans and Buffaloes Wire: I wouldn’t say it eliminates their chances, although I had Oregon winning this game regardless. If Shedeur Sanders was hurt, then yes, but the Buffs still have a chance, just far less than they did with Hunter.
Catch all of Ducks Wire’s Pac-12 team previews for the 2023 season:
Arizona — Arizona State — California — Colorado — Oregon State — Stanford — UCLA — USC — Utah — Washington — Washington State