Stanford vs. USC: College Football Week 2 Odds & Picks (2023)
Gear up for another awesome weekend of college football action with BettingPros! We’ll have you covered with all of our top picks for the week along with our projected spreads and totals to help guide your college football bets. Below are our top picks and predictions for Saturday’s Week 2 game: Stanford vs. USC.
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Top College Football Odds & Picks: Stanford vs. USC
Stanford at USC (Over 69.5)
As I mentioned on this week's mid-week show with Scott Bogman and Mike Farrell, it didn't take long into the Stanford-Hawaii game for me to realize I'd been too low on the Cardinal heading into the year. New HC Troy Taylor's up-tempo system put an immediate jolt into the offense, which put up 34 points against Hawaii.
Taylor's system is hard to get a beat on during the game - you don't know where the ball is going, and once you do, you're often forced to make tackles in space. And because of the tempo, you're forced to do that over and over and over again.
USC's defense badly struggled with tackling last season. We haven't gotten to see the Trojans against a legitimate opponent, so it's tough to tell exactly where USC is on that side of the ball. But it wasn't the best development when USC gave up 28 points and nearly 400 total yards in the opener to a San Jose State team that looks unlikely to make a bowl game. Last week, against Nevada, one of the FBS' worst teams, the Trojans gave up 14 points - but Nevada put up 360 yards of offense and possessed the ball for 36 minutes.
USC's offense is, of course, the most dangerous in the nation. It combined to score 122 points and gain 1,169 yards in those two games. This despite giving the majority of both four quarters to the backups.
Stanford's defense could be an adventure this year. After giving up 355 passing yards and three TD to Hawaii's Brayden Schager, the Cardinal turn around to play QB Caleb Williams. It's a given that the Trojans are going to light up the scoreboard - but Stanford should return enough fire to get us over the number.
The pick: Over 69.5 (play to 72.5)
Best Ways to Bet College Football for Beginners
Game Total
Bettors new to the hobby can be confused by spreads, but game totals are simple. Every football game has a total posted for the combined final score between the two teams. Bettors have the option to choose the OVER or UNDER, generally at -110 odds (risk: $110; win: $100). So if the total is 42 and you take the OVER, you need 43 points to win the bet. If you put a bet down on the over to win $100 and it goes over, you get back the money you initially risked, plus $100. If it stayed under, you would have lost your $110 and that's it. If by chance the game ended with 42 total points, it's called a push; when a game pushes, you get the money you risked back but nothing more.
ie: California vs. Illinois, Over 42 or Under 42
tip: Over bets can be a really fun social event with your buddies. Have everyone throw in a few bucks, then take the over together. Instead of getting pumped when one side scores, everyone is pumped for ANY score, all game.
Moneyline
The moneyline is the easiest way to test your college football knowledge: who will win the game? That's it. The moneyline doesn't use favorites or underdogs, it's totally straight up. That said, the risk-reward can be challenging because they're weighted. Instead of every game being around -110, like game totals and spreads, moneylines vary depending on the matchup.
For our example, California was favored by seven points over Illinois, meaning oddsmakers think the Golden Bears are a touchdown better than the Fighting Illini. If you took Cal on the moneyline, points don't matter, they just need to win the game. But because it's safer to take them straight-up without points, you'll have to risk more when you make the bet - remember, they're seven points better than Illinois in the eyes of the oddsmakers. In this case, Cal is -280 on the moneyline, so if you want to win $100, you have to risk $280. On the flip side, moneyline bets can be valuable when taking the underdog because it's a riskier bet - they're seven points worse than their opponent. In this case, Illinois is the underdog - +220 on the moneyline. You'd win $220 on a $100 bet if you picked Illinois on the moneyline and they pulled off the upset.
ie: California (ML -280) vs. Illinois (ML +220)
tip: Check their history against one another. Keep an eye on the injury report and the weather.
Player Props
Player props are some of the most exhilarating bets you can place during a college football game, but they're also easy to understand. For major conferences, you'll have a wide array of options to choose from. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and sometimes tight ends will have props to choose from. It's simple, fun and easy to follow, and odds on player props don't vary as much as moneylines. Generally, prop bets are in the -110 range like generic spread and total bets.
ie: How many passing yards will Brandon Peters have against California? Over 250 or Under 250
tip: Check how players have performed in the situation they're going to be in. Use split stats on any reliable site to see their numbers at home, on a neutral-site, in December, etc.
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