USC vs. Utah odds, spread, lines: Week 7 college football picks, predictions by computer model
A pair of Pac-12 rivals meet up this weekend as Utah hosts USC in college football's Week 7 action on Saturday.
Utah checks in at two losses in its Pac-12 title defense, coming off a 10-point decision to UCLA last week, but remains locked in at No. 20 in the latest AP top 25 rankings.
USC is perfect through six games, but those games are getting closer as the conference schedule heats up, most recently in a 10-point win over Washington State.
What do the experts think of the matchup? Let's see how the College Football Power Index computer prediction model projects the game.
USC vs. Utah picks, predictions
Week 7 college football picks: USC vs. Utah
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The computers are going with the home team this weekend, as Utah has the 61.7 percent chance to defeat USC this Saturday.
That leaves the undefeated Trojans a 38.3 percent shot to beat the Utes and stay perfect on the year.
The oddsmakers are also siding with Utah, which comes in as the narrow 3.5 point favorites, according to the lines at SI Sportsbook, which set the over/under mark at 60.5 points for the matchup.
Utah checks in at No. 9 on the index's 131 college football rankings, owing to its Pac-12-best projected per-game scoring margin: FPI estimates that Utah would be an average team by 16.4 points per game on a neutral field.
USC places second in the conference on that metric, expected to be 15.5 points better than an average team, and projected to win 10.9 games on the season, ahead of Utah's 8.9 win total projection.
Southern Cal, No. 10 on the computer's national rankings this week, also leads the way in the Pac-12 with a 18.7 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff this season.
College Football Power Index
Football Power Index (FPI) college football rankings and computer prediction model are a measure of team strength that predicts a team’s future performance.
Rankings and scores predictions are based on 20,000 simulations of a team’s season, using a combination of analytics, including scores to date, quality of opponents, and a team’s schedule.
College football rankings
According to AP top 25 poll
1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. Alabama
4. Clemson
5. Michigan
6. Tennessee
7. USC
8. Oklahoma State
9. Ole Miss
10. Penn State
11. UCLA
12. Oregon
13. TCU
14. Wake Forest
15. NC State
16. Mississippi State
17. Kansas State
18. Syracuse
19. Kansas
20. Utah
21. Cincinnati
T-22. Kentucky
T-22. Texas
24. Illinois
25. James Madison