Arizona vs USC Odds, Lines & Best Bets for Saturday Night (Oct. 7)
by Sascha Paruk in College Football
Updated Oct 6, 2023 · 12:52 PM PDT
The former Arizona Cardinals head coach and now USC Trojans assistant coach Kliff Kingsbury talks to quarterback Caleb Williams (13) during the pregame warmup before playing the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe on Sept. 23, 2023.Pac-12 co-leader USC hosts Arizona in a Pac-12 mismatch on Saturday night (Oct. 7)Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams re-asserted his stance as Heisman favorite last weekendSee the Arizona vs USC odds, picks, and predictions for the Week 6 matchup at LA Memorial Coliseum
The #9 USC Trojans (5-0, 2-3 ATS) bring their undefeated record into a Week 6 matchup with the Arizona Wildcats (3-2, 4-1 ATS) on Saturday, Oct. 7, at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (7:30 pm PT/10:30 pm ET).
The current odds set USC as a massive betting favorite. This would have been the case regardless, but the fact that Arizona is dealing with an injury to its starting QB certainly isn’t helping matters for the underdog Wildcats.
Arizona vs USC Odds
| Team | Spread | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Wildcats | +21.5 (-110) | +1100 | O 71.5 (-110) |
| USC Trojans | -21.5 (-110) | -2000 | U 71.5 (-110) |
The Trojans are 21.5-point favorites and -2000 on the moneyline. The Wildcats comeback as a +1100 longshot to win outright in the Week 6 college football odds, while the game total is sitting at an eye-popping 71.5.
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USC’s national championship odds have remained fairly constant since the preseason. The Trojans opened the year at +1567, on average, and sit at +1520 entering their Week 6 clash with Arizona. Their Pac-12 championship odds have, however, faded from +189 to +237 and they now trail the also-undefeated Oregon Ducks (+223) by the narrowest of margins.
Arizona started the season as a +10500 longshot to win the Pac-12 and last week’s loss to Washington (31-24), despite being competitive, sent their odds plummeting to +23300.
USC Hangs on Against Colorado
The Trojans looked to be in complete control last week against Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes, opening up an early 21-0 lead and taking a 34-14 cushion into halftime. But a second-half letdown allowed the Buffs to make a game of it, and USC wound up hanging on for a 48-41 victory, failing to cover as 22-point chalk.
While the defense presented obvious concerns against Colorado, the offense continued to impress. Reigning Heisman-winner Caleb Williams was phenomenal, recording a season-high 403 yards and six touchdowns while tossing his first pick of the year in the victory. After ceding top spot in the Heisman odds to Washington’s Michael Penix Jr for a week, Williams was back at the top of the board as of Sunday.
An overwhelming favorite to go #1 in the 2024 NFL draft odds, Williams has the benefit of working with ludicrous depth at the receiver position. While none of this wideouts are projected as first-round picks in the near future, a ludicrous seven USC receivers have at least 100 yards on the year, led by seniors Tahj Washington (395) and Brenden Rice (338).
The defense had been reasonably good up until last week, when it surrendered 564 yards and 41 points to the Buffaloes. That’s especially concerning as Colorado is the only team with a winning record that USC has faced this year. Their only other Power 5 wins this season came against Stanford and Arizona State, who sit last and second-last, respectively, in the Pac-12 standings and have a combined 2-8 record overall.
USC did, of course, beat two top-20 teams last season: #16 UCLA (48-45 away) and #15 Notre Dame (38-27 home).
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Arizona Out of Its Depth
Arizona’s only Power 5 win this season came by a single point over lowly Stanford as 13-point road favorites. It was, ironically, the only game the Wildcats have failed to cover against the spread in 2023.
Portending a Week 6 disaster, Arizona’s pass defense was shredded last week by Penix and the Huskies. Penix finished 30-of-40 with 363 passing yards, though all four Husky TDs came on the ground from inside the five-yard line. Even Mississippi State’s new run-heavy attack had its way against Arizona – when it bothered to pass the ball – in Week 2’s 31-24 victory in Oxford. Will Rogers had 162 yards and three touchdowns on just 17 pass attempts.
Making matters worse, Arizona starting QB Jayden de Laura is still battling an ankle injury that caused him to miss last week’s loss to the Huskies. De Laura had been relatively prolific through four games, passing for 1,069 yards with nine touchdowns, though he added a concerning five picks in that span.
Redshirt freshman Noa Fifita was decent in his first career start, going 27-39 for 232 yards, three touchdowns, and one pick, but would be a big step down from junior de Laura if forced into action again against a top-ten team.
No official announcement has come from the Arizona camp on who will start Saturday night, but Fifita has taken the majority of first-team reps during practice this week.
Arizona vs USC Prediction
This has all the makings of a disaster for the Wildcats, at least on the defensive side of the ball. The Wildcat secondary hasn’t shown any capability to slow down, let alone stop, decent passing offenses, and now they face arguably the best aerial attack in the nation. USC has a penchant for starting fast, and there’s no reason to expect anything different against Arizona. They are 13-point favorites on the first-half line and, with Arizona likely to have a freshman under center, I expect a big USC lead at halftime.
Arizona vs USC Picks:
First-half spread: USC -13 (-110)Brendan Rice anytime TD scorer (-150)
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