USC vs UCLA Odds: Trojans Favored By Double-Digits Over Bruins

Odds for the 2016 USC vs UCLA rivalry game opened on Sunday morning with the surging Trojans favored by ten points over the floundering Bruins.

Fresh off an upset victory over the Washington Huskies and sporting a shiny new No. 15 ranking in the AP Top 25, USC will look to extend their winning streak to seven in a rivalry match up with the UCLA Bruins.

Oddsmakers have faith the Trojans will do just that, setting USC as a 10.5 favorite over UCLA, per the VegasInsider.com consensus line.

Clay Helton won the full-time USC job as an interim last year with a 40-21 victory over the Bruins at the Coliseum. This time around, his task is to keep his team focused in order to avoid a letdown against the underdog rivals.

The fortunes of USC and UCLA in the second half of 2016 could not be different.

After a disappointing start to the year, the Trojans switched quarterbacks and have been on a tear since, ripping off six-straight victories, including Saturday night’s 26-13 triumph over then-No. 4 Washington.

In that span, USC’s offense has found their feet while the defense has settled into Clancy Pendergast’s system with aplomb.

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On the other side of Los Angeles, the Bruins have mostly known misfortune. UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen fell to injury while Jim Mora’s squad lost four games in row from the first week of October to the first week of November.

Last week, the Bruins bounced back with a 38-24 win over Oregon State at the Rose Bowl. They will hope to maintain their success at home when the Trojans come around on Saturday night.

UCLA has been an underdog four times this season. Though they have lost all four of those games, the Bruins did cover double-digit lines against Washington State and Utah.

USC has won all six games in which they were favored this year, covering the spread in all but one — a four-point win over Colorado which could have been a bigger margin if JuJu Smith-Schuster had opted to run in a sure touchdown instead of downing the ball in a successful bid to run out the clock.