The USC Trojans travel to Folsom Field to face the Colorado Buffaloes on Friday night in a Pac-12 matchup. Colorado has lost two consecutive games and will look to get its second conference win of the season Friday. The Trojans have won three straight Pac-12 games, and will try to get their fifth conference win of the season.
USC is 6-3 on the season and are led by senior quarterback Cody Kessler, one of the top prospects at his position in the country, and he's having a big year. Kessler has thrown over 2,500 yards this season and has 20 touchdowns to five interceptions. The senior quarterback is coming off a big game against Arizona, throwing for 243 yards and two touchdowns and he'll try to keep momentum rolling on Friday evening.
Kessler will look to target wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, as he one of the best players at the position in the conference. The sophomore receiver is coming off a big game where he caught eight passes for 138 yards and a touchdown. The speedy receiver can break open at any time during a game, and is difficult for any secondary to cover.
Interim head coach Clay Helton has gone 3-1 since taking over as head coach, and is undefeated in conference play. The Trojans have a ton of talent on defense, and linebackers Su'a Cravens and Cameron Smith will have a major impact on Friday. Smith is a freshman linebacker that leads the team in tackles with 72, and recorded three interceptions against Utah a couple weeks ago.
Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau leads the Buffaloes offense, and has struggled at time this season. The junior quarterback has thrown for 2,324 yards this season, but has thrown nine touchdowns to six interceptions. Liufau poses a dual threat to defenses as he has rushed over 250 yards this season and has scored five touchdowns on the ground. In the past two games Liufau has struggled against Pac-12 defenses - throwing three interceptions and no touchdowns.
Head coach Mike MacIntyre will try to take pressure off his quarterback by establishing a strong running game. Sophomore running back Phillip Lindsay is the teams' leading rusher this season with 503 yards. Lindsay is averaging 4.7 yards per carry and has scored five touchdowns this season. The Buffaloes lead running back struggled last week only seeing five carries for 14 yards.
Colorado is looking to shake off last week's blow out loss to Stanford, and would like nothing more than to get a signature win over the Trojans. USC is trying to salvage their season, and are fighting to get back to the top of the Pac-12 South Division.
The game starts at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, and you can watch the live broadcast here. To listen to the Trojans' radio broadcast, click here, and for the Buffaloes' radio broadcast, go here.
