There is not as much of a gap between these teams as Utah being favored at the Coliseum would have you believe, but its clear through three games this season that the Utes are the more talented squad. The Trojans did beat up on Stanford, but we have now seen that they are not the Cardinal of old. The loss to BYU and slight win against Fresno State is what USC actually looks like this season. This Utah team beat up the same aforementioned BYU squad and boasts a defense that will give USC fits. This is available without the hook on some sportsbooks. If so, jump on it, but I still like it at 3.5.

The Trojans saw first hand how hard it is to be led by a freshman quarterback in Saturday’s loss to BYU. Kedon Slovis was efficient, completing 24-of-34, but had costly turnovers that led to BYU’s comeback victory. The Cougars have played both USC and Utah; the Utes blew out BYU. Yet every chance the Utes have to ascend as a true contender, they’ve fallen under Kyle Whittingham. Look for the Trojans to take advantage of home field and get the cover Friday.

The Utes are 3-0, but are actually just 1-5 against the spread in their past six games. The only ATS win was a 30-12 Week 1 win at BYU as a 5-point favorite. But Utah seems to like the Pac-12, as the Utes are 6-2 ATS in their past eight games against conference teams. Southern Cal lost 30-27 at BYU last week as 4.5-point favorites, but are just 5-13 ATS in their past 18 games. USC backup QB Kedon Slovis is still finding his way (5 TDs, 4 INTs) and Utah has the best defense in the Pac-12 – so the Utes get the cover here.

Many will say that USC was looking ahead to this game, and that's why the Trojans lost to BYU. That is far from the truth, as the Trojans have some legitimate concerns defensively. On the offensive side, they are still getting adjusted to playcaller Graham Harrell. Those two things are what you don't want to hear when facing an opponent like Utah, which comes in looking like the best team in the Pac-12. The Utes can run the ball really well and play assignment-sound defense. There won't be many, if any, mistakes in this one coming from Utah. Take the Utes.