1. Cody Kessler tries to stay hot at home against Washington
USC (No 19) isn’t getting a lot of national hype right now, and neither is Kessler, who has quietly put together a phenomenal campaign to date. The Trojans will be front and center in a prime-time matchup at home against Washington on Thursday, though, and it’s a perfect platform for Kessler to showcase his mastery in front of a national audience.
Even in the game in which Stanford shocked USC, Kessler was stellar. Thanks in part to the outstanding play of receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, the senior quarterback has completed 73 percent of his passes, averaging 10.63 yards per attempt, and has 15 passing touchdowns compared to just one interception.
Washington’s defense is pretty darn good, though, so it’s not a given Kessler and the USC offense will stay hot at home this Thursday night. The Huskies have allowed just two passing touchdowns, have forced five interceptions have racked up eight sacks and opposing quarterbacks have completed just 56.1 percent of their passes.
When discussing the challenge of facing this stout defense, USC offensive coordinator Clay Helton remarked on the team discipline the Huskies have shown.
“They don’t blow assignments,” Helton said, per ESPN.com. “They make you go the long way. It’ll be a tough challenge for us.”
Conference battles are always hard to predict. As we saw when Stanford went into the Coliseum and dominated the Trojans in Week 3, the rankings rarely have much to do with the outcome.
This contest will be nationally broadcasted on ESPN starting at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday night.