Pack opens season as huge underdog at USC

A look ahead to Saturday’s (3:30 p.m.) non-conference football game between the Nevada Wolf Pack (0-0) and USC Trojans (1-0) at the Los Angeles Coliseum:

HOW TO WATCH, LISTEN: Pac-12 Network, 105.7 FM.

THE SPREAD: USC by 38.

AT STAKE FOR NEVADA: Almost nothing. Yes, of course, there is the matter of that nasty 10-game losing streak that continues to hang over the program. But USC is not the place to end a losing streak. The only thing at stake for Nevada is whether the team shows up for the kickoff and is able to collect its $1.5 million check (some reports have it at $1.3 million, some at $1.6 million) from the wealthy Trojans. After that, well, this is just a fancy scrimmage.

AT STAKE FOR USC: How about a national championship? USC loses to the Wolf Pack and the Trojans’ national title hopes might vanish like the Los Angeles skyline in a sea of exhaust fumes.

USC LAST WEEK: The Trojans beat San Jose State, 56-28, at the Coliseum as quarterback Caleb Williams passed for 278 yards and four touchdowns. Freshman wide receiver Zachariah Branch returned a kickoff for a touchdown and caught a 25-yard scoring pass. The Trojans had 501 yards on offense and scored touchdowns on seven of their first nine drives.

BRANCH SHREDS SAN JOSE STATE: USC freshman wide receiver Zachariah Branch had 232 all-purpose yards in the win over San Jose State. He caught four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown. He had 12 yards rushing and also returned three punts for 66 yards and one kickoff for a 96-yard touchdown. The 19-year-old graduated from Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas less than a year ago and enrolled at USC last spring. Former Los Angeles and Oakland Raider wide receiver Cliff Branch is Zachariah’s uncle. “We knew about him,” Nevada head coach Ken Wilson said. “But we didn’t expect to see that first game out. He made three, four, five guys miss. That’s special as a freshman. He’s a game changer.”

PACK IN SEASON OPENERS: The Wolf Pack has won its last five season openers and eight of its last nine. The Wolf Pack is 14-17 in season openers (2-8 against Pac-12 schools) since moving to the Football Bowl Subdivision (Division I-A) in 1992.

THE HEAD COACHES: Nevada’s Ken Wilson (2-10) is starting his second season as head coach. The Wolf Pack lost its final 10 games last season and all eight of its Mountain West games. USC’s Lincoln Riley is 12-3 and in his second season as Trojan head coach. Riley also went 55-10 in five seasons at Oklahoma (2017-21). Riley was Texas Tech’s wide receivers coach in 2008 when the Red Raiders beat the Wolf Pack at Mackay Stadium, 35-19.

WILSON KNOWS USC COACHES: Wilson, who coached in the Pac-12 with Washington State and Oregon from 2013-21, is quite familiar with a number of USC defensive coaches. USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and outside linebackers coach Roy Manning both coached with Wilson at Washington State. USC defensive backs coach Donte Williams coached with Wilson at Oregon. Wilson also coached USC grad assistant Peyton Pelluer, a former Washington State linebacker, as well as USC defensive analyst Parker Henry, a former Washington State defensive back. “We know their (USC’s defensive) signals,” Wilson smiled.

PACK VERSUS HEISMAN: USC quarterback Caleb Williams will be the first sitting Heisman Trophy winner the Pack will ever face. Wilson, though, has faced Williams before. Wilson was Oregon’s co-defensive coordinator in 2021 when the Ducks went up against Oklahoma and Williams in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Dec. 29, 2021. Oklahoma and Williams torched Wilson’s defense, 47-32, as Williams was 21-of-27 for 242 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 34 yards on seven carries. Wilson coached Oregon’s defense that day despite being named the Wolf Pack head coach 19 days earlier. Lincoln Riley did not coach Oklahoma in the game, having accepted the USC job a month earlier.

THE RIVALRY: USC is 5-0 against Nevada with all of the games played from 1920-1929. USC has outscored Nevada 164-14 in the rivalry. This is the 100th anniversary of the Wolf Pack’s first game at the Coliseum (a 33-0 loss to the Trojans in 1923). That game was also just USC’s second at the Coliseum, a week after a 23-7 win over Pomona.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE 94 YEARS MAKES: The Wolf Pack’s last trip to Los Angeles to play the Trojans (a 66-0 USC win in 1929) required Nevada’s first plane ride. The Wolf Pack’s 40-person traveling party, according to the Los Angeles Times in 1929, took 10 airplanes on Nevada Air Lines to and from Los Angeles on the two-day trip. The Trojans did not show the Wolf Pack much respect, resting almost all of their starters. USC was more concerned with its game at South Bend, Ind., the following weekend against Notre Dame and coach Knute Rockne. “Nevada, aside from the fact it is on the schedule,“ wrote the Los Angeles Times, “really has been ignored in the Trojan scheme of things.“ USC’s reserves had more first downs (22-2), yards (365-67) and touchdowns (10-0) than the Pack starters. The Trojans led just 13-0 at halftime and then started throwing the ball in the second half. “Nevadans Sheep in Wolves Clothing” was a headline in the Los Angeles Times the day after the game.

USC AGAINST MOUNTAIN WEST: USC is 14-1 against the Mountain West. Its only loss was 10-6 against Utah in the 2001 Las Vegas Bowl. This is just the third season in which USC will play as many as two Mountain West teams. It was 2-0 against Colorado State and BYU in 2004 and 3-0 against Hawaii, Utah State and Fresno State in 2013.

WHAT THE WOLF PACK NEEDS TO DO TO WIN: Return to Reno without any major injuries. USC is arguably the most talented team the Wolf Pack has ever played. It’s actually not much of an argument. A Pack victory would be one of the most shocking results in college football in recent memory.

WHAT USC NEEDS TO DO TO WIN: The Trojans will be motivated to not only cover the 38-point spread but also to look good doing it. Much of the conversation after USC’s four-touchdown victory over San Jose State was the Trojans’ continuing struggles on defense. The Trojans would like to turn that narrative around by keeping the Pack out of the end zone.