Ohio State vs. USC prediction, pick, odds, spread: Short-handed Buckeyes look to avoid road trap

Ohio State starts its life without Julian Sayin on the road against a wounded USC team backed into a corner No. 2 Ohio State and USC are not strangers. They have met 24 times in their history, though a lot of those meetings have come in bowl games. In fact, they have played nearly as many games against one another in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl (7) as they have in Los Angeles at the Coliseum (8). What they have not done, however, is face each other as conference mates. Their last meeting came in the 2017 Cotton Bowl. Prior to that, they hadn't played since the 2009 season. It took until USC's third season as a Big Ten member for the two to appear on each other's schedules, but this Saturday night the wait will end.

And it's a game that got a lot more intriguing in recent weeks. USC enters the game unranked for the first time all season following a 17-7 loss at Wisconsin last week. While Ohio State remains second in the AP Top 25, this will be the team's first game since losing starting quarterback Julian Sayin, who was knocked out of their 19-15 win over Indiana. This will be Luke Fahey's first career start: On the surface, giving your quarterback his first career start