USC is a 26-point favorite over the Syracuse Orange on the eve of their meeting at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey..  I don’t expect the Trojans to cover.

Not only won’t they cover, but they could just find themselves in a real shootout.  Last week, they won big (49-10) against Hawaii and actually dropped from No. 1 to No. 2 in the polls.

This week they are bound to drop again.  Even a Matt Barkley-lead narrow victory won’t be enough to hold that No. 2 spot in the polls. And the Trojans will need Barkley to be at his most accurate and both Marquise Lee and Robert Woods to catch everything thrown at them in order for the Trojans to survive.

The culprit: plain and simple – the Zone Read offense.

For Monte Kiffin’s ramped-down collegiate Tampa 2 defense, the Zone Read offense is the football version of a Trojan Horse virus.  When that Zone Read is being quarterbacked by the likes of Ryan Nassib, the USC defense is bound to be back on its heels all afternoon.

Nassib threw for more yards last week (470) than any other quarterback in the nation.  In addition, the Orange ground game backed him up with 120 yards rushing.  Although the Orange lost to Northwestern 42-41, it was special teams, turnovers and penalties that did them in.

Northwestern scored two key touchdowns on an 89-yard punt return and a 33-yard fumble return.  So, look for Syracuse to redeem themselves this week with a stiff defense and a prolific offense.

For the Trojans to not only win but look decent doing it, they absolutely need to get their run game going with Curtiss McNeal, Silas Redd and fullback Soma Vanuku.  The longer USC can grind out long, determined drives, the longer they will keep Nassib and his prolific offense on the sidelines.

That is something they must do to keep that No. 2 national ranking.