Sep 19, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (9) is defended by Stanford Cardinal cornerback Ronnie Harris (21) in the fourth quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Stanford defeated USC 41-31. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

CFB Preview: Trojans vs. Trees in Pac-12 Championship

Stanford(10-2)and  USC (8-4) are California dreaming for the Pac 12 title as the two teams collide in Santa Clara Saturday night.

The number seven Cardinal are coming off of a two loss regular season, one in the first game of the season to Northwestern and the second was to Oregon just three weeks ago. But with those games being the only losses, Stanford is coming off of there most impressive win of the season last week as they faced #6 Notre Dame 38-36 and the Cardinal previously defeated the Trojans earlier this season when USC was ranked #6.

That game was a close one from the start with no team leading by more than 11 points. It was also a nice game for both quarterbacks as Stanford’s Kevin Hogan threw for two touchdowns and 279 yards that night and Trojan quarterback Cody Kessler threw for three touchdowns and 272 yards. But the Cardinal running game was the difference as Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey had 115 yards and Remound Wright played the role of touchdown vulture scoring three-1 yard touchdowns.

#20 USC’s season from that point on derailed losing three more times (one of them being to unranked Washington 17-12). But they have had a couple big victories defeating #22 UCLA and a solid win against #3 Utah.

When comparing these two teams head to head, Kessler has roughly 500 more yards and one less interception than Hogan for the season. This is most likely because of USC’s top receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster who has 1302 yards, ten touchdowns and 74 receptions (which is 920 more yards and 50 more receptions than the second leading receiver for the team).  But Stanford’s rushing attack is statistically better having about 50 more yards on the ground per game. And that’s largely due to Stanford’s back  McCaffrey who has 1640 yards for the season.

The two teams square off for the PAC 12 Championship Saturday night at 7:45 p.m.

About Larry Tornese

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