Two Pac-12 rivals square off in the desert this weekend as Arizona welcomes USC in College Football Week 9 action on Saturday.
Arizona has dropped three of its last five and is 3-4 overall with a 1-3 mark in Pac-12 competition behind the nation’s 93rd rushing offense.
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USC is back on the gridiron after an idle week, but has suffered its first loss of the Lincoln Riley era, a 1-point decision in Utah two Saturdays ago that thwarted the Trojans’ plans for the Pac-12 title game .
What do the experts think of the matchup? Let’s see how the College Football Power Index computer prediction model projects the game.
USC vs. Arizona Picks Predictions
Week 9 College Football Tips: USC vs. Arizona
The computer is conveniently on the away team’s side as USC has the oversized one 88.7 percent Chance to beat Arizona this weekend.
That leaves the Wildcats on 11.3 percent Shot to hand the Trojans their second loss of the season and move themselves to .500 in the record books.
The odds makers leave with the road team as USC comes in 15 points favourites to defeat Arizona, according to lines at SI Sportsbook, which put the over/under mark on 75.5 points for the matchup.
USC is ranked 10th overall on the Index’s 131 college football rankings and is expected to win 10.5 games this season and his 15.9 points better according to the computers than an average team on a neutral field.
That adds up to a 32.7 percent shot to win the Pac-12, the highest mark in the conference, and a 9.9 percent Chance to make the college football playoffs.
Arizona is ranked 83rd nationally in the FPI rankings, second to bottom in the Pac-12 and estimated 4.0 points worse than an average team while expected to win 4.2 Games this season, according to the metrics.
The Football Power Index (FPI) college football ranking and computer prediction model is a measure of team strength that predicts a team’s future performance.
Leaderboards and result predictions are based on 20,000 simulations of a team’s season using a combination of analytics including past results, opponent quality and a team’s schedule.
According to the AP Top 25 poll
1. Georgia (31 votes on #1)
2. State of Ohio (18)
3. Tennessee (13)
4.Michigan
5. Clement (1)
6. Alabama
7. TCU
8.Oregon
9. State of Oklahoma
10.USC
T-10. guard forest
12.UCLA
13. Penn State
14. Utah
15. Ole Fraulein
16. Syracuse
17. Illinois
18th LSU
19. Kentucky
20. Cincinnati
21. North Carolina
22. State of Kansas
23. Tulane
24. NC state
25.South Carolina
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