The Tulane Green Wave and USC Trojans face off on Monday in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. This is the first meeting between the two teams in recent years.
Tulane has had quite the special season and they currently sit with an 11-2 record and they have gone 11-2 against the spread. In the last game against UCF it was again the offense that was strong scoring 45 points on the way to the victory. Quarterback Michael Pratt again had a big game completing 20 of his 33 passes for 394 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. Tyjae Spears also had a big game finishing with 22 carries for 199 yards, and a touchdown. Tulane is averaging 35.2 points while their defense is giving up 20.5 points per game. In this game, the defense is going to need to step up in a big way.
On the other side of this matchup is USC who sits with an 11-2 record and they have gone 8-5 against the spread. USC knew they had a chance to make the college football playoff with a win in the last game, but they ended up losing to Utah. The defense was awful giving up 47 points, and that led to the berth in this bowl game instead. Caleb Williams completed 28 of his 41 passes for 363 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception. USC is averaging 41.1 points while their defense is giving up 27.9 points per game. On the season Williams has thrown for 4,075 yards, 37 touchdowns, and four interceptions.
USC is 4-0 against the spread in their last four non-conference games. The over is 7-0 in the Trojans last seven games overall. The over is 6-0 in USC’s last six games played in January. The over is 5-0 in Tulane’s last five games against a team with a winning record.
The trends point towards the over and there is going to be no shortage of scoring in this game. USC is an elite offensive team but they are still giving up 27.9 points per game and Tulane should find success scoring also. It wouldn’t shock me if both teams get over 40 points. Back the over.