Rutgers Scarlet Knights vs USC Trojans Point Spread Picks

USC is 3-0 and ranked twelfth nationally, outscoring three opponents 130-56. Rutgers is 0-2 and has already lost to Massachusetts and Boston College, results that would raise eyebrows even for a Group of Five program, and the Scarlet Knights will be missing two starters this week with four more questionable. Quarterback Jayden Maiava has no injury designation for USC, and the Trojans face a Rutgers offense that has managed only 42 points combined across those two losses. This is a ranked team against a winless one that hasn't shown it can compete with anybody yet. Appalachian State's only close call this season was a 27-24 win over East Carolina last week, but the Mountaineers didn't turn the ball over once; East Carolina lost a fumble and threw a game-sealing interception in the final minutes, making it look closer than App State's performance was. Quarterback Malachi Singleton has completed better than 80 percent of his passes for 558 yards and three touchdowns without an interception. Charlotte is 0-2 and outscored 84-50, including a shootout loss to FCS program The Citadel, and managed just nine points against Ole Miss, an offense that stalls out against real competition. App State's clean execution against the better team it's already faced says more than Charlotte's one competitive quarter against an FCS opponent. TCU quarterback Jaden Craig, a Harvard transfer making his first Power Conference starts, threw for 391 yards last week, the most by any quarterback in the Big 12 this season. That bounce-back came one week after TCU's 15-10 loss to North Carolina. This game got away not because of a talent gap but because of eleven penalties for 89 yards, including a fourth-and-one offsides penalty in the final minute that handed North Carolina a fresh set of downs to close it out. Arkansas State is 1-1 and just allowed 42 points to Memphis, a level of defense that doesn't suggest the discipline needed to replicate what nearly beat TCU a few weeks back. A team that's already shown its one loss was self-inflicted rather than a sign it's overmatched, coming off a career week from its quarterback, is the right side against a group that couldn't keep Memphis out of the end zone. Each of these on its own is a bad number to lay straight: USC at -1567, App State at -900, TCU at -1011. Combined, the ticket price comes down to -335, and none of the three needs to be pretty. USC doesn't need style points against a winless Rutgers team, App State doesn't need another clean sheet the way it got against East Carolina, and TCU needs Jaden Craig to keep playing the way he did last week, not the way he did in Dublin.

Combine the Magic (-650) and the Trojans (-550) into a 2-team parlay at -275 odds.