Stanford @ USC preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 19, 2015 ) Stanford 41, Southern California 31

When Stanford faces USC in the Pac-12 Conference championship game Saturday in Santa Clara, Calif., it could be excused if it is caught doing a little scoreboard-watching. The Cardinal are ranked seventh in the College Football Playoff rankings but conceivably could move into the final four with a win over No. 20 USC and a loss by either Clemson or Alabama.

Stanford appeared unlikely to reach the Pac-12 title game following its season-opening loss to Northwestern, but it responded with eight straight wins - including a 41-31 triumph at USC on Sept. 19. Kevin Hogan passed for 279 yards and Remound Wright rushed for three touchdowns as the Cardinal rallied from an early 11-point deficit to beat the Trojans, who fired coach Steve Sarkisian three weeks later. Clay Helton took over on an interim basis and received the permanent title after USC won five of its last six games, including last Saturday’s 40-21 victory over rival UCLA. The Trojans rushed a season-high 59 times while holding the ball for 40 minutes, 1 second last week and will need a similar effort against Stanford, which is seeking its third Pac-12 championship in the last four years.

TV: 7:45 p.m. ET, ESPN, ESPN3. LINE: Stanford -4.5

ABOUT STANFORD (10-2, 8-1 Pac-12): Hogan passed for 269 yards and four touchdowns in last Saturday’s 38-36 victory over Notre Dame, which kept alive the Cardinal’s playoff hopes. "We have nothing to prove to anybody," coach David Shaw told reporters. "We're in the Pac-12 championship game and we get to go play a great game against a team that's going to be fired up to play us. And that's where our head is. What the national chatter is, that’s not up to me." Running back Christian McCaffrey leads the FBS with 252.92 all-purpose yards per game while linebacker Blake Martinez has a team-high 121 tackles to lead the defense, which has allowed an average of 478 yards over the last three games without cornerback Ronnie Harris, who could return from an ankle injury to face the Trojans.

ABOUT USC (8-4, 6-3): The Trojans have outrushed their opponents in all seven games since Helton took over for Sarkisian, including last Saturday against UCLA as Justin Davis gained 130 yards on 25 carries for his second straight 100-yard performance. Davis’ emergence only has added to a talented offense led by quarterback Cody Kessler, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and two-way player Adoree’ Jackson, who has returned a punt for a touchdown in back-to-back games and ranks as the only player in the country with 300 yards receiving, 500 in kickoff returns, 200 punt-return yards and 20 tackles. Linebacker Cameron Smith was named Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year after recording a team-leading 78 tackles and three interceptions, and he’ll be a key part of the Trojans’ efforts to slow down McCaffrey, the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year.

EXTRA POINTS

1. USC leads the all-time series 60-30-3, but the Cardinal have won six of the last nine games.

2. McCaffrey needs 216 all-purpose yards to break the NCAA record of 3,250, set in 1988 by Oklahoma State’s Barry Sanders.

3. Five of the last six meetings between the teams have been decided by eight points or fewer.

PREDICTION: Stanford 34, USC 27