With college football season on the horizon, ESPN Chalk's college football experts -- Phil Steele, "Stanford Steve" Coughlin and Chris Fallica -- combine to give you betting previews of the top 25 teams, according to the ESPN College Football Rankings. They break down each team's strengths and weaknesses, along with season win total bets and national title odds.
Odds from Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook as of Sept. 1.
USC Trojans
National title odds: 20-1
Season win total: 9
Phil Steele
Strengths: Next to Ohio State, USC might have the most balanced and talented roster in the nation -- with no real weaknesses. Their weakest-rated unit is their running backs corps, and that is 13th best in the country. They have a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender in quarterback Cody Kessler, who is operating behind my No. 2-rated offensive line. With the sanctions gone, they also have much better depth than they have had in recent years.
Weaknesses: They face a rugged schedule, which I rate the second-toughest in the country. They not only play in the rugged Pac-12 South but also draw both Oregon and Stanford out of the North and Notre Dame on the nonconference slate. They have road games at Arizona State, at Notre Dame and at Oregon.
Over/under: Here is another team that I project to get into the College Football Playoff, and while I do expect they drop one game along the way, this team now has the depth to cope with that killer schedule. Last year, they suited up just 50 scholarship players for the National University Holiday Bowl and will have many more than that for each game this year. Take the over.
National title: I would put USC's chances of winning the national title near the level of Alabama's and TCU's, yet the Trojans' odds are 20-1 (instead of single digits). This has me excited. If USC gets into the playoff, they have no position that is a real weakness, as their starting 11 on each side of the ball can line up with any team, including Ohio State. There is a lot of value here.
"Stanford Steve" Coughlin
During the last week of July, the Pac-12 head coaches made their annual trip here to the ESPN Campus in Bristol, Connecticut. For what seems like the 10th year in a row, I started up the conversation with the USC man in charge on how much I loved his skill-position players. Those guys this year are Adoree' Jackson and JuJu Smith-Schuster, who are simply phenomenal. How USC has handled the sanctions handed to them has been amazing; it's a tribute to the players, and I just think they should be applauded.
Now, when I look at the Trojans' schedule this year, one game sticks out to me: Saturday, Oct. 17, in South Bend, Indiana, against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I believe both teams will be undefeated that day and the winner of that game will be in the College Football Playoff. I'm not ready to predict the winner yet, because it always seems like when USC comes to South Bend in October, the weather always favors the Irish.
O/U: I do like USC's chances to make the College Football Playoff this year, and I believe the winner of the matchup with Notre Dame will make it. I say take a shot with USC at this number.
Chris Fallica
Again it seems like "this is the year" for USC, but I'm not sold, as USC always seems to find an unexpected loss on the schedule. In the past two years, the Trojans are 2-6 versus teams which finished the season ranked, and in those eight games, Kessler had just eight touchdowns and six interceptions. There are also the mind-numbing losses, like at Boston College as a 17-point favorite, to Washington State at home as a 15-point favorite and 7-point favorites to a five-loss Arizona team. And then there are the three straight double-digit losses to UCLA. The list goes on and on, but it all adds up to a stand against from a Vegas perspective.
O/U: This is a tough draw, as USC gets the two best teams from the Pac-12 North -- Oregon and Stanford -- in conference play. And that doesn't include games at Arizona State, Notre Dame and a date with UCLA. Steve Sarkisian has never won nine games in the regular season as a head coach. Take the under here.
Title odds: I think it will be hard for USC to go 10-2 -- and even as an 11-2 Pac-12 champ, who knows how the committee would view the Trojans? I'd think they would have to be included, but actually getting to 11-2 on CFP selection day might be wishful thinking.