Southern California vs Arizona State Preview: Will Kenny Dillingham Fix Arizona State’s Offense?

The Sun Devils Have Been Shut Out in Each of Their Last Six Quarters

September 20, 2023 280 5 minutes readNCAAF Picks & Parlays

Southern California vs Arizona State Preview: Will Kenny Dillingham Fix Arizona State's Offense? — Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images/AFP

The USC Trojans will take on the Arizona State Sun Devils in their second Pac-12 matchup.

The Trojans earned a 56-10 victory over Stanford last weekend to begin the final season of the Pac-12 era.

On the Fresno State while allowing at least 27 points in each game.

USC will win on Saturday. But by how many points?

Check out the Southern California vs Arizona State preview for Saturday’s Pac-12 matchup.

Day/Time: Saturday, September 23, 10:30 pm ET, 7:30 pm PT
Location: Mountain America Stadium
Streaming: FOX

It’s Not All Happy In South California

The USC Trojans are 3-0 and have the former Heisman quarterback slinging the ball for a second straight season.

The Trojans have averaged over 580 yards of offense and held teams to 368.3 yards on defense.

It’s supposed to be happy times. However, the Trojans just revoked credentials from Orange County ’s Beat Reporter, Luca Evans, for two weeks after a story that was published on Thursday.

Luckily, we don’t need credentials to report on the chaos at USC!

Head coach Lincoln Riley wasn’t happy with a story focused on freshman running back Quinton Joyner. It was a positive story about how Joyner has excelled this season. But he was referencing a conversation between players shortly before talking to the media.

USC suggested that the reporter violated a policy prohibiting reporting on the team outside of media availabilities at the practice facility.

This sounds like a significant overreaction. But rules are rules. I’d understand where USC came from if it were a negative piece. But it was a positive piece. All USC had to do was talk to the reporter and politely ask him not to do that again.
Luca Evans and his bosses are asking for the suspension to be rescinded. However, even if he’s unable to be with the press for the next two weeks, Evans will still cover the team.

Kenny Dillingham Will Take Over Play-Calling On Offense!

The Arizona State offense hasn’t scored a single point in the last six quarters.

So the head coach is putting the responsibility in his own hands now.

Kenny Dillingham will take over as the play-caller for the offense against USC.

It’s unclear what the offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin’s job will look like moving forward. After Tuesday’s practice, Dillingham explained that the offense needed a little energy boost in his press conference.

“Offensively, we need a little bit more boost, so I’m going to do whatever I think can help us get a little boost of energy out here,” Dillingham said. “So, today I was a little bit more involved in the offense than I have been just to try and get us going, get us out of the rut we’re in.”

USC isn’t always known for its defense. The Trojans lost in a bowl game last season to Tulane because the reason couldn’t get stops. The only way to beat USC is by scoring a lot of points.

It’s unlikely that Arizona State can keep up, especially with the quarterback room banged up. It sounds like former Notre Dame quarterback Drew Pyne will get the start if he is healthy. But his health, again, is up in the air.
Below, we’ll look at the Southern California vs Arizona State preview and odds for Saturday’s late-night game.

Southern California vs Arizona State Preview

The oddsmakers are expecting a heavy mismatch on Saturday. USC is a 34.5-point favorite on the road, against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Meanwhile, the total is 62, suggesting that Arizona State won’t score many points.

The Trojans didn’t cover a 31-point spread against San Jose State to start the season. However, they’ve covered in their last two games as -38 and -28 favorites against Nevada and Stanford, respectively.

The Over hit in two of the first three games for USC. Last weekend against Stanford was the first time the Under hit in the previous ten games. The total was at 70, and USC and Stanford added just 66. They Over was close to hitting again.

On the other hand, Arizona State is 0-3 against the spread to begin the year. The Sun Devils were 34.5-point favorites against Southern Utah to start the season and only won 24-21.

Arizona State also lost as slight underdogs to Oklahoma State and Fresno State by multiple scores.

Can Arizona State Keep Up?

USC has one of the most explosive offenses in college football. Caleb Williams has already thrown 12 touchdowns in three games and earned nearly 900 yards ing. He’s looking for his second Heisman trophy this season.

Arizona State will have its hands full against one of the top teams in the NCAA Football rankings. The defense hasn’t been bad so far. It’s held teams to just 293.3 yards per game. But the offense continues to put them in bad spots.

Plus, the Sun Devils haven’t faced offenses as well as USC. They probably won’t face another offense that’s as good this season.

On the other hand, true freshman Jaden Rashada won the starting job at Arizona State to begin the season. However, he’s been injured for at least another month.

In the game against Fresno State, Arizona State threw three different quarterbacks. It was due to other injuries. But none of the other quarterbacks could find any rhythm either.

Jacob Conoer threw for 89 yards and two interceptions. Drew Pyne added 52 yards and two interceptions. Finally, Trenton Bourguet went 6-for-8 for 47 yards but also had an interception.

The Sun Devils are in trouble this season.

Take USC Big In This One!

It’s very embarrassing when a true freshman beats out your other quarterbacks for the starting job in the spring.

Jaden Rashada earned the Week 1 start for Arizona State over Notre Dame starter Drew Pyne. That’s unfathomable and proves just how bad the other quarterbacks are on the Arizona State roster.

Kenny Dillingham can call the plays for the Sun Devils, but it won’t change the fact that the offense has the worst group of quarterbacks in the Power 5. The Arizona State NCAAF scores won’t change no matter who is at quarterback.

It’s a lost season.

When you see the NCAA Football betting lines, go against Arizona State every game. The offense just can’t keep up. But even with the defense playing well, the offense continues to put the defense in a terrible spot.

The Sun Devils need to limit turnovers and give the defense a chance to keep them in the game.

Once Arizona State falls in the first quarterback by multiple touchdowns, they’ll get trigger-happy and throw the game away fast.

Take USC -34.5 in this one.

For Point Spreads Sports Magazine.