USC Bowl Predictions: Can Trojans Still Make Rose Bowl?


USC bowl predictions could land the Trojans in the Rose Bowl again. While USC may need a little help down the stretch, the Trojans still have a shot to play in the Pac-12 Championship Game and then get an invite to the Rose Bowl. In the updated Pac-12 standings, the USC Trojans have a 5-3 (4-2) record. That’s good for third place in the Pac-12 South Division, just one game behind Colorado and half a game behind Utah.

USC has three losses on the season, coming against Alabama in Week 1, and then against Stanford and Utah in late September. USC has won four-straight games, though, including an important victory against Colorado on October 8. This gives Utah a head-to-head tie-breaker against USC, but also affords USC a tie-breaker over Colorado. So just how can the USC Trojans qualify for the Pac-12 Championship Game as a representative from the South Division?

The easiest scenario for USC to win the south is for the Trojans to win the final three games on their schedule and for Utah and Colorado to each lose one more conference game. This would put USC in the Pac-12 title game, with a shot at winning it and advancing to the Rose Bowl against a representative from the Big Ten Conference. Below is a breakdown of the remaining schedules for the three contending teams in the South Division.

USC Trojans Schedule

Nov. 5 – Oregon at USC, 4 p.m. PT (ESPN)
Nov. 12 – USC at Washington, 4:30 p.m. PT (FOX)
Nov. 19 – USC at UCLA, TBD
Nov. 26 – Notre Dame at USC, TBD

Colorado Buffaloes Schedule

Nov. 12 – Colorado at Arizona, TBD
Nov. 19 – Washington State at Colorado, TBD
Nov. 26 – Utah at Colorado, TBD

Utah Utes Schedule

Nov. 10 – Utah at Arizona State, 6:30 p.m. PT
Nov. 19 – Oregon at Utah, TBD
Nov. 26 – Utah at Colorado, TBD

[Image by Harry How/Getty Images]

There are additional USC bowl predictions coming from the experts, as it might be difficult for the Trojans to make it all the way to the Rose Bowl. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, some experts have USC vs. Wake Forest in the Sun Bowl, while other experts have USC vs. Minnesota in the Foster Farms Bowl. In the each of the last two seasons, USC has been invited to the Holiday Bowl, so it’s possible that the trend could also continue this year.

At 5-3 overall, the USC Trojans still haven’t achieved bowl eligibility this season. It will only take one more regular season victory to do that, though, and it is made easier by a lack of bowl eligible teams in the conference. There could be as few as seven schools getting a postseason game from the Pac-12, which might indicate to the rest of the country that this is a “down year” for the conference. That’s bad news for the Washington Huskies, as the team tries to garner national support and make it into the College Football Playoff.

The experts over at ESPN have also released new USC bowl predictions. A report by Mark Schlabach and Brett McMurphy came out a bit earlier this week. Schlabach has USC vs. Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl, while McMurphy has USC vs. Indiana in the Foster Farms Bowl. The two experts have predicted that the Rose Bowl matchups will be either Washington State vs. Ohio State or Utah vs. Ohio State.

[Image by Harry How/Getty Images]

There is a lot on the line for the USC Trojans over the final four weeks of the regular season, with every game having a lot of importance in the Pac-12 standings. While it is tough not to look ahead to the game against the Washington Huskies on November 12, USC still has to take care of business against the Oregon Ducks on November 5. The game is receiving national coverage, with kickoff scheduled for just after 4 p.m. PT on ESPN.

[Featured Image by Harry How/Getty Images]

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