USC trying to finish strong
Even with a thrilling USC Trojans win last week against the Arizona State Sun Devils, they still find themselves outside of the top 25 for their match-up on Saturday 13 November against no. 18 Arizona Wildcats.
Arizona’s previous games
The Wildcats started their season 4-0 with wins over Toledo, Citadel, the ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, and in conference California. They ran into Oregon State following a bye week and lost a heartbreaker, 29-27. Arizona certainly knew what it would take
to rebound, and they did, reeling off three straight victories against Washington State, Washington and UCLA, respectively. It came down to last week’s match-up against Stanford in which the Wildcats were caged throughout the game and eventually succumbed
to a 42-17 drubbing. Still not pushing the panic button, Wildcats head coach Mike Stoops had this to say to espn.go.com:
"We're still a good football team, still a top 20 team," Stoops said. "There's a lot of possibilities out there, one game won't make or break us either way."
USC’s season to date
Just like the Wildcats, USC started their season on a four game winning streak with victories over Hawaii, Virginia, Minnesota and Washington State, all unranked teams however. Weeks five and six had in conference match-ups, and in both the Trojans
came out on the losing end of the stick. First, it was to Washington, 32-31, and then Stanford, 37-35. Two gut wrenching losses were followed up by a victory over California, but they quickly followed that up with a loss to the now number-one-ranked Oregon
Ducks. They are coming off of a win though, which occurred last week against Arizona State, 34-33, and the head coach Lane Kiffin had this to say about his team after the game to espn.go.com:
"We just haven't had so many things go our way, whether it was kicks or clock management, so it was just great for our kids for something to finally go our way in a roller-coaster game," Kiffin said. "Hopefully it's one of those games that brings you together
and helps you finish off the year strong."
Keys to the game
USC will have to keep that momentum rolling from last weekend’s emotional win. Sophomore quarterback Matt Barkley has the Trojans offence in great position, with a 22nd ranked passing game and a 23rd ranked rushing game. Barkley
has thrown for 2348 yards and 28 touchdowns while the rest of his offence has been pulling their weight. Their main goal for the game will be to keep the defence guessing, and using all of his options, even if it is pump faking to them.
Arizona still has a chance to finish atop the conference, but they will need to win out the season, and it will start with a defensive regrouping after last weekend’s blowout against Stanford. The defence gave up a total of 516 yards, a season worst and unacceptable
from a team hoping to win a conference. The Wildcats offence will be counting on quarterback Nick Foles who is in for the second time since returning from the disabled list. He has thrown for 1848 yards on 171 completions, giving him an average of 7.77 yards
per completion. He will need every bit of his accuracy this week if he hopes to keep his team’s goal of winning the Pac-10 alive.
Prediction
Arizona wants it more: Wildcats 17 – Trojans 13
Tags: