Utah State Football vs #13 USC: Preview, Predictions, Depth Chart, How to Watch (2024)

LOGAN — Utah State got a win in its season opener against Robert Morris, but Week 2 will bring a far more challenging foe in the form of historic college football powerhouse USC. The Trojans appear to be back to their dominant ways after a program slump in the 2010s in the post-Lane Kiffin/Pete Carroll era (although a "slump in the 2010s" for USC still meant finishing in the Top 25 five different times, the Trojans were simply not as nationally relevant the same way they had been in decades past).

Last week in their own season opener on Sunday, USC got a win over at-the-time No. 13 LSU in a neutral-site game in Las Vegas. After that win, the Trojans took over ownership of that No. 13 ranking in the AP Poll and will host Utah State for their home opener of 2024.

Here's everything you need to know, from how to watch or listen, Utah State's depth chart, key storylines and predictions for this Saturday's matchup.

Game Info:

• Kickoff:9 p.m. (Mountain Time)
• Location: LA Memorial Coliseum (Los Angeles, CA)
• TV Broadcast: Big 10 Network
• Radio:KVNU (102.1 FM, 610 AM)

KVNU Aggie Gameday pregame show with Stockton Jewkes and J.D. Walker:Begins 7 p.m. on 102.1 FM, 610 AM

KVNU Aggie Call Postgame:Starts immediately after Coach Nate Dreiling's post-game comments.

• Text (435) 554-1175 or call (435) 753-5868 during the postgame show to give your reactions to the game

Utah State Depth Chart

Top Storylines/Matchups

Miller Moss has great start to 2024 but old skeletons dug up this week

Riley has a very impressive history of coaching great quarterbacks so far, heading into just his eighth season as a head coach in college football. He's coached three QBs who went on to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft (Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams) and two others were drafted (Jalen Hurts, Spencer Rattler). Four teams in the NFL, or 1/8 of the entire league, are currently expected to start one of Riley's former pupils at QB in 2024.

Miller Moss is the next man in line to play under Riley's tutelage and so far seems to be living up his forebears.

In just his second collegiate start, Moss put in a good showing statistically, completing 27 of 36 passes for 378 yards with no interceptions and one touchdown. That stat line pairs fairly well with his singular other start which came in USC's final game of 2023. With Caleb Williams having already left to pursue his NFL career, Moss stepped in and threw for 372 yards and six touchdowns (and one pick), completing 23 of 33 passes. It means that in two career starts, Moss has completed 72.5 percent of his passes with an average of 375.0 yards and a 7-1 TD/INT ratio.

"He was pretty good. There's a couple decisions we would want back, but not not many," USC head coach Lincoln Riley said on ESPN LA regarding Moss' performance against LSU. "He tends to go the right place with the ball, and he's patient. I'll tell you the first couple of starts, he's really been pretty fearless there in the pocket. He is certainly willing to stand in there and then made some big-time throws."

"Obviously, he has an NFL arm," USU head coach Nate Dreiling said, "but how fast he gets the ball out. He very rarely ever gets hit. He never makes bad reads. They're such a vertical passing team and how he can lay these touches on these balls is just so challenging."

Moss had to wait quite a while for his time to shine, having joined the Trojans in 2021 and appearing sparingly in his first three seasons. Now is his time to be the next star quarterback for a coach that's produced numerous NFL starters in the last decade.

Just as Moss has emerged as a potential star, an old story regarding his early days at USC emerged from the shadows. In a video first released by TMZ, Moss is seen going through his roommates' closet and apparently taking items of clothing and later farting into said roommates' pillow. USC did an investigation into the roommate dispute and the matter was quickly and quietly resolved, with reports about it only emerging now that Moss is starting for one of the more well-known college football teams.

Still, the matter had to be addressed publicly by Moss and the university,who both released statements on the matter.

“I regret my actions and have grown and learned from this matter, and my focus is on the season ahead,” Moss said at the end of his statement.

Riley was asked about the matter on Tuesday in a post-practice interview.

"That's been settled a long, long time ago," Riley said."And that's a high-quality individual in there. That's one guy you've got to be careful about going after because how the character of him, everything that he does is as high as anybody that I've ever had."

Whether this story becoming public knowledge has an impact on Moss' performance depends on how much he's grown since then and how quickly he's able to put this minor embarrassment behind him. That and his ability to ignore fans of rival teams who will gleefully hold it over his head. If he's learned from his mistakes and matured as a man, this won't be anything more than a footnote to the start of a great season.

"Self-inflicted wounds" still persistent with Aggies

In 2023 the Aggies were among the worst teams in both penalties and how often they gave the ball away. USU ranked 123rd in total penalties, 128th in yards along with being 123rd in turnovers lost. These issues were carry-overs from 2022 in which the Aggies were 129th in penalties, 130th in penalty yards and 125th in turnovers lost. Even in the 2021 Mountain West championship-winning season, Blake Anderson's squad was 92nd in penalties, 103rd in penalty yards and 116th in turnovers lost.

Let's just say that despite constantly saying they'd work on addressing the issue, Anderson never got around to actually fixing it.

One seemingly shouldn't blast Anderson too much over that fact since Dreiling hasn't gotten a handle on it either, at least through one game of his tenure at Utah State. The Aggies committed 10 penalties (plus two more that were declined) for a loss of 105 yards, numbers that once again put USU in the bottom 20 of the FBS in penalties and penalty yards. Two of those infractions were unsportsmanlike conduct fouls, incidents that plagued the team last year and killed too many drives on offense or extended opponent's drives.

These are things Utah State absolutely cannot have happen. Lip service is being paid to taking care of penalties but no real results of those efforts are being displayed on Saturdays. Giving free yards back to USC is a sure-fire way to ensure that a game in which the Aggies are a four-touchdown underdog hits that point spread this weekend.

Looking at turnovers, that's an issue where Utah State has maybe done a little better. The Aggies did have turnovers, three interceptions, and they were costly at the time as they ended two first-half drives that had high scoring potential. And yet they may not be as problematic as the stat sheet would indicate.

In 2023,Legas and Hillstead were prone to poor throws and bad decisions. According to PFF, which tracks "turnover-worthy passes" in its grading metric, Legas ranked 99th in percentage of attempts that were turnover-worthy out of 129 QBs with at least 190 dropbacks. Hillstead came in at 91st in the same qualified ranking. Barnes and Petras, despite having three interceptions between them in 36 total dropbacks, were credited with just one turnover-worthy pass, likely the long pick thrown by Barnes at the end of the first half. But Dreiling wasn't too concerned over a couple of the interceptions.

Short week for USC to prepare

Since USC opened the season on Sunday, that took away a day of preparation and rest for the Trojans to make the transition from playing a neutral-site game against an SEC team and turn to focus on Utah State. It's a challenge Riley spoke about with the media.

"It's definitely a challenge in that you play an away game, you get home late and you got to flip the script and go. Especially when you're playing an opponent that's not playing on a short week," Riley said. "We've got to turn the corner quickly, mentally, physically."

The turnaround is akin to NFL teams playing on Monday Night Football and having a short week to prepare for a Sunday matchup the next week, something that occasionally draws complaints and is a storyline in those relevant matchups. How much of an impact it truly has on NFL teams is up for debate. In the last five years, teams that play on MNF are 105-84 in the following week so maybe the effects are exaggerated.

Bryson Barnes or Spencer Petras?

Week 1 starting quarterback Spencer Petras only played a quarter and a half against Robert Morris before leaving the game with an injured ankle. The injury didn't appear to be too serious and after practice earlier this week, Petras was walking without the boot he had on during the second half of the season opener.

If it were Week 11 and a bowl game or shot at the Mountain West championship game were on the line, odds are Petras would be playing without too much of a question. But since it's a road, non-conference game against a ranked opponent in Week 2, Dreiling may want to hold off on risking a re-aggravation of Petras' injury on another unlucky hit and wait to put him back in for the rivalry game against Utah on Sept. 14.

While Petras has been the clear QB1 since spring, there's a hint of an advantage to having Barnes behind center for this game against the Trojans, namely that Barnes has already logged a win over them as a starter. Last October then No. 14 Utah took on No. 18 USC in the Coliseum and won 34-32. Barnes had what is arguably the best game of his career, accounting for throwing for 292 combined yards and four total touchdowns (235 pass yards, three pass TDs with 57 rush yards and one TD on the ground). He also led the eventual game-winning drive that went 54 yards in one minute, 46 seconds to set up a game-winning field goal.

Viral sensation Kyron Hudson

USC wide receiver Kyron Hudson went viral for a pair of spectacular catches he made in the Trojans' win over LSU, most notably a one-handed grab that he snagged mostly by the tips of his fingers.

THIS ONE-HANDED GRAB BY KYRON HUDSON 😳 #SCTOP10 pic.twitter.com/b9gD3tccnk

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 2, 2024

Hudson isn't a newcomer, having spent three years with USC prior to this season, but largely in a smaller role. He had 17 catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns in 2023 and 15 receptions for 152 yards and three TDs in 2022 (and only two catches in one appearance his redshirt year in 2021). Hudson was expected to step up this year with notable departures in the Trojans' wide receiver room, and it appears that he's doing just that. His two viral catches were part of an overall performance that saw him reel in five passes for a team-leading 83 yards.

How much has Utah State's defense truly improved?

Utah State had a lot of defensive struggles last year but, aside from a couple of hiccups against Robert Morris, the defense was largely solid. The Aggies gave up 14 points in the first half and, more concerningly, yielded 103 rushing yards in that opening half alone, but shored things up in the second half. The Colonials didn't score at all in the second half and were held to 3.0 yards per play in the latter two quarters. A big part of that was holding Robert Morris to 1.9 yards per rush attempt in the second half (as opposed to 6.4 in the first).

Senior safety Jordan Vincent said the turnaround came down to "trust in our keys and trusting our fits throughout the defense."

"Our front seven did a great job re-establishing the line of scrimmage," Vincent said. "Playing behind the sticks. Allowing like our backers and our back end to come fit well, fit clean, and ultimately stop the run, which is a big part of playing great defense."

Saturday will be an all-new and far more difficult test with stars of the Big 10 lining up across from them. The Aggies theoretically have more talent, speed and size on defense. But just how good many of these experienced newcomers are will get a massive test against USC.

USU tasked with stopping an All-American talent

On the note of defense, Hudson may have made the viral catches and Moss got the accolades for his 300-plus yard performance in the win over LSU, but receiver/returner Zachariah Branch is arguably the most dangerous player on USC's offense. He earned All-American honors as a returner last year in his true freshman season, scoring a punt return and kick return touchdown throughout the season and averaging 20.8 yards per punt return. Dreiling said Branch is "probably the fastest player in the country," making him an obvious threat to the Aggies.

"We need Elliot Nimrod on kickoffs to be booting like he was (against Robert Morris), making sure that ball's out of the end zone where they can't return it. And then Stephen (Kotsanlee) and the rest of the punt team needs to be on point. (Branch is) such a phenomenal player and they do a good job, not just on special teams. Obviously, then you gotta prepare for him when the defense takes the field and how to eliminate his touches and really get going because he can take it whenever he wants."

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound receiver played a relatively limited role in last year's explosive USC offense, catching 31 passes for 320 yards, but is expected to play an even larger role on offense this year. LSU held him to a respectable four catches for 56 yards but did give up a 46-yard kick return to Branch that helped USC build momentum. The Aggies can't let the sophom*ore explode for more yards on offense or get going in the return game.

Stats to Know

• Utah State an all-time record of 6-66 against teams ranked in the AP Poll, including being 0-38 against teams ranked 15th or better
  • USU has lost nine of its last 10 games against ranked opponents, dating back to 2018
  • The one win vs a ranked team since 2018 was against No. 19 San Diego State in the 2021 Mountain West championship game
  • Five of Utah State's six all-time wins over ranked teams have come since 2012 (the other was in 1991)
• The Aggies are 0-6 all-time vs USC
  • All six games have been played in LA
  • The first matchup took place in 1928
  • The Aggies have never scored more than 14 points vs the Trojans
• Utah State has 17 rostered players who hail from the state of California, including several key players such as Jacob Garcia, Spencer Petras, Gabriel Iniguez and Simeon Harris.
• There are 19 players on USU who have connections to USC players, either by being teammates at a previous college or high school, or attending the same college or high school. One such connection is USU defensive end Marlin Dean and USC defensive tackle Bear Alexander. Both played at IMG Academy and both began their careers at the University of Georgia.

Game Prediction

Eric Frandsen and Jason Walker both gave their predictions for the game on the Full Court Press (4-6 p.m. weekdays on 106.9 FM, 1390 AM The FAN). Vote on who you think will be the winner and by how much in the poll below.

Eric Frandsen's Prediction — USC 37, Utah State 20

• Correct winner predictions this year — 1/1
• *Score prediction accuracy rating — .371

"I think that Utah State might have a little bit of a slow start. But I think eventually they do settle in and move the ball and try to make this game interesting," Frandsen said. "I think that they do find the end zone a couple of times. But I also think that they have to kick a couple of field goals to go with it...Unfortunately, I think USC finds the end zone far more often. They may even get a special teams or defensive score in this one. I certainly hope not, but I could definitely see it happening."

Jason Walker's Prediction — USC 56, Utah State 13

• Correct winner predictions this year — 1/1
• Score prediction accuracy rating — .143

"It think Utah State is gonna struggle to start. They're gonna have a lot of drives end way too early in the first quarter, second quarter," Walker predicted during the Full Court Press Thursday. "I think they think some things going in the late second quarter, maybe into the third quarter. But by then we're gonna see USC kind of taking their foot off the gas a little bit and that's gonna facilitate a couple extra scores. I could easily see 21-0 for USC early in the second quarter. There's a lot of things that have to change about the Aggies really quick for me to see this game staying close for long."

*Score prediction accuracy rating is on scale of 0-1 and measures predicted score for each team and its deviation from the actual score from the game