USC football odds: Trojans are heavily favorites over Arizona Wildcats

USC football is a two-touchdown favorite over the Arizona Wildcats, but their penchant for playing poorly on the road should remain a worry.

For the second time in 2020, USC is a double-digit favorite over a Pac-12 South opponent.

This time, the Trojans should have an easier time covering the spread.

USC is a 13-point favorite over Arizona in Tucson.

That’s an interesting line when you consider USC opened as a 10-point favorite over ASU. The Sun Devils were expected to battle for the Pac-12 South title while the Wildcats are likely to sit near the bottom of the standings.

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True, it is a road game for the Trojans, while they welcomed the Sun Devils to the Coliseum, but that’s still a narrow difference between the lines.

USC football is expected to roll against Arizona

USC would have more cause to argue against the oddsmakers if they weren’t so bad at covering big lines in the first place. They were set to lose to ASU but manufactured a miraculous 13-point comeback in the final three minutes of the game. Bettors who picked against the Trojans were proven wise not to put their faith in a comfortable victory.

Now the challenge is to prove those early struggles were just first-game jitters during the unusual 9:00 a.m. PT window.

If USC really warrants their status as the favorite in the Pac-12 South, they’ll do to Arizona this year what they achieved last year in a 41-14 romp.

The 13-point spread should be simple enough to cover. However, it’ll require USC to avoid shooting themselves in the foot. That’s not the forte of Clay Helton squads normally.

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The Wildcats are likely to experience some opening game rust themselves after their Week 1 contest with Utah was canceled. The Utes were hit with too many COVID-19 cases and didn’t have enough players for the game to go forward.