Las Vegas Bowl Preview: Fresno State vs. USC

On Saturday, the NCAA football bowling season will kick off and this will include the Las Vegas Bowl with #20 Fresno State (11-1, 7-1) vs. #25 USC (9-4, 6-3).

Derek Carr

For the Bulldogs, they had BCS bowl hopes but suffered a fatal loss against San Jose State (6-6, 6-3), blemishing its perfect season and giving up 736 offensive yards. The team went on to win the Mountain West Conference championship game by defeating Utah State (8-5, 7-1) 24-17 on Dec. 7.

The Trojans will embrace third time is the charm as they’ll will play under their third coach this season. Offensive coordinator Clay Helton will be a the helm on Saturday as the team’s second interim coach after their first one, coach Ed Orgeron, led the team to six of seven game wins after Lane Kiffin’s dismissal. Helton will then turn things over to Steve Sarkisian after the bowl game.

USC will look to their strong defense on Saturday for the win. It ranks No. 16 nationally with the 341.5 yards a game it has given up and sits in the top Pac-12 spot with its 214.5 yard average allowed in passing; it has a No. 2 ranking with 16 interceptions.

Over 13 games, the Trojans have only allowed 18 touchdown passes. Sophomore defensive end Leonard Williams is a beast and for the season, he has 73 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss and six sacks, according to NFL.com.

They will have their hands full trying to stop Fresno State quarterback senior quarterback Derek Carr. He owns the top spot nationally for passing (409.8 yards per game with a 70.1 pass completion), third for total offense (570.6) and fifth for scoring with 43.5 points each game. The team leads nationally with its 73 passing plays of more than 20 yards.

In eight games this season, Carr has passed for a minimum of 400 yards and has his eye on winning Saturday’s game. He said via the Associated Press, “This is a big reason why I came back. I wanted to win an outright championship. Sharing a title was great. As a competitor that wasn’t enough. We wanted to come back and finish this thing right.”

All eyes will be on Carr as he is expected to go at the top of the first round in the 2014 NFL Draft. Scouts will be in attendance on Saturday and the player will look to erase their memory of his performance in the Utah State game where he threw two interceptions; the team was held to less than 35 points–a first for the season.

Fortunately Carr has an arsenal of weapons. This includes sophomore wide receiver Davante Adams, the nation’s leader with his 122 receptions and 23 touchdowns; he ranks No. 2 with 1,645 yards.

There’s also Josh Harper with his 79 receptions, 1,011 yards and 13 touchdowns along with Isaiah Burse’s 94 catches, 987 yards and five touchdowns.

Marqise Lee

For the Trojans, their offense is ranked No. 11 in the Pac-12 for total offense with 392.3 yards per game. They do have wide receiver Marqise Lee, who will also be garnering some attention from NFL scouts on Saturday.

After an award-winning 2012 season, Lee’s production fell off this season thanks to injuries and coaching changes. He’ll enter the game with 50 receptions, 673 yards and two scores. This follow’s 2012’s stellar production of 118 passes, 1,721 yards and 14 touchdowns.

The Bulldogs will enter the game with a little chip on their shoulders after their devastating loss against San Jose State. Will Carr make this last NCAA game his best?

With a win, they could finish the season 12-1, which is not too shabby. They’ll open their 2014 season on the road against USC on Aug. 30.

As for USC with all of their changes this season could end with an impressive 10-4 finish.

Vegas sees USC getting the first score of the game (-160) and the win (-6, 63.5 o/u).