The USC Trojans and the Hawaii Warriors are set to kick off the 2013 college football season in a Thursday-night matchup Aug. 29. Both teams have a lot to prove, as both are coming off of disappointing 2012 campaigns. <\/p>\n
No. 25 USC Trojans (0-0) @ Hawaii Warriors (0-0)
\nThursday, Aug. 29, 2013, 11:00 PM ET @ Aloha Stadium
\nMoneyline: N\/A
\nSpread: USC -22.5
\nO\/U: 53.5 <\/strong>
\n[dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]<\/p><\/blockquote>\nATS Matchup Stats<\/a> | Gambling Insight!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Check out our in-house Handicapper!!! Buy Razor Ray’s Picks Today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
The Warriors, although not expected to be great, went just 3-9. USC, the preseason No. 1 seed, lost six games en route to finishing unranked. It\u2019s a new year for both squads, and setting the tone will be key to finding success.<\/p>\n
USC Trojans<\/h3>\n
The Trojans not only have the hurdle of bouncing back from a substandard year, but they have to do it while adjusting to a new rotation. A number of positions will have new faces this season, and you\u2019d better believe that Lane Kiffin\u2019s once-cozy head coaching seat is getting hot.<\/p>\n
CLICK TO GRAB OUR Expert CFB Picks for 2013 NCAA FOOTBALL Betting!<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
At quarterback, Max Wittek and Cody Kessler have competed all offseason to earn the nod as the starter. Kiffin has yet to name a permanent starter, as evidenced by the fact that both players will see time behind center in Week 1. The hope is that this is a temporary solution, but for the time being, we\u2019ll see both players fight for the job in front of our own eyes.<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s anything going for the offense, it\u2019s the return of Marquis Lee. The wide receiver reportedly doesn\u2019t care which player is named quarterback, and it\u2019s easy to see why. He pulled in 14 touchdowns for 1,721 yards in 2012, and it\u2019s clear that he\u2019s a playmaker regardless of who\u2019s throwing him the ball.<\/p>\n
On the ground, USC will be without its No. 1 back, Silas Redd. He suffered a meniscus tear during spring practice, and he won\u2019t be available against Hawaii. However, the Trojans have two other players more than capable of carrying the load in Justin Davis and Tre Madden. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n
Hawaii Warriors<\/h3>\n
For the second year in a row, the Warriors get the opportunity to strut their stuff against USC in the season opener. Last year didn\u2019t go so well, as Hawaii fell 49-10 in Los Angeles, and if we\u2019re being honest with ourselves, this year shouldn\u2019t be much different.<\/p>\n
The team has recently relieved its offensive coordinator of his duties, which creates a whole lot of mystery as to where the program is headed. To make matters worse, Sean Schroeder, the team\u2019s starting QB from last season, is unavailable following back surgery. <\/p>\n
In 2012, Hawaii ranked 101st in passing yards, 114th in rushing yards, 102nd in points per game and 107th in points allowed. This team has a little bit of momentum entering the year, as it won its last two games, but a 3-9 record doesn\u2019t give fans much confidence heading into this one.<\/p>\n
Chances are, we\u2019ll see USC come out with confidence against a team that lacks direction. We\u2019re bound to see some slip ups between new faces, but the team still has the talent to be big favorites against the Warriors.<\/p>\n
If the Trojans have this game in hand, don\u2019t expect them to let up too much. <\/p>\n
Both quarterbacks are trying to show what they can do, and the coaching staff needs to know whom it should play moving forward. <\/p>\n
The Trojans won this matchup by 39 points last year, and while they might not hit that mark this time around, they\u2019re sure to win in convincing fashion.<\/p>\n
O\/U Pick: Over
\nScore Prediction: USC 41 \u2013 Hawaii 14<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trojans vs Warriors NCAA Football Spread\/Handicapping The USC Trojans and the Hawaii Warriors are set to kick off the 2013 college football season in a Thursday-night matchup Aug. 29. Both teams have a lot to prove, as both are coming off of disappointing 2012 campaigns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":65431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[53103,324,327,766,769,33464,33467,33417,1323],"class_list":["post-65381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaa-football","tag-53103","tag-college-football-odds","tag-college-football-predictions","tag-ncaa-football-lines","tag-ncaa-football-picks","tag-trojans-vs-warriors","tag-usc-trojans-vs-hawaii-warriors","tag-usc-vs-hawaii","tag-week-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65381"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65433,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65381\/revisions\/65433"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}