Cal Vs. USC Injury Report: Golden Bears Leave Game Unscathed

The California Golden Bears may have lost to the USC Trojans for the ninth consecutive time on Saturday, but at least they can go home still in tact since no one was seriously injured in the loss.

Google "Cal USC injuries" and nothing but updates on USC injuries will pop up. The Trojans have well-chronicled depth issues so when one of their players goes down, it impacts them more than it would a normal team.

Cal fought. Even after falling behind by 14 points at halftime, they came out and cut it to eight in the third quarter and had the ball on the 14-yard line in an attempt to really put the pressure on a USC team with doubters across the country after last week's loss to Stanford.

Cal couldn't pull it off but they can enter next week with the same assortment of players and try to take something positive from their toughest stretch of the season.

That positive thing is their health.

Talk about the game with Cal fans at the California Golden Blogs, and with USC fans at Conquest Chronicles.

Cal Vs. USC 2012: Another Year, Another Loss

The California Golden Bears have lost to the USC Trojans in football nine consecutive times. And as California Golden Blogs points out, this latest loss had chances to shift the tide but it wasn't to be.

Down 17-9 in the third quarter, Cal was looking to possibly cut it down to one while on the USC 14-yard line. But Cal quarterback Zach Maynard missed a wide open Bryce Treggs in the end zone and instead, threw an interception as he tried to hit an underneath route. USC had the ball and took all of Cal's possibilities along with it.

A week following a performance against the Ohio State Buckeyes that had Cal fans thinking that maybe they could play with the Trojans, Cal just added to the long history of inevitable events within Cal football.

Like CGB said, it's ‘death, taxes and Cal losing to USC at football'.

Talk about the game with Cal fans at the California Golden Blogs, and with USC fans at Conquest Chronicles.

Cal Vs. USC Results: Golden Bears Lose 27-9

The USC Trojans running backs were let loose and took full advantage of their opportunities in the team's 27-9 win over the California Golden Bears Saturday, giving the Trojans a rebound win after being upset last week. The major concern going forward, however, will be the health of center Khaled Holmes, who was hurt again.

Curtis McNeal starred in the first half for the Trojans and finished the game with 115 rushing yards in just ten carries. The senior running back did have a turnover, though, as McNeal put a ball on the turf in the third quarter that was recovered by the Golden Bears. Meanwhile, Silas Redd took 21 carries for 158 rushing yards and found the end zone once.

However, Trojans star quarterback Matt Barkley did not perform as well as he could have. The senior quarterback completed 22 of 34 passes while throwing for just 192 yards. While he did have two touchdowns, including one in the fourth quarter, he was also at fault for a pair of interceptions.

Outside of three field goals by Golden Bears kicker Vincenzo D'Amato, not much went right for the California Golden Bears offense.

Box Score Hero: Trojans running back Curtis McNeal accumulated 115 yards on the ground in just ten carries, good for an average of 11.5 yards per carry.

Rankings Ramifications: The California Golden Bears will remain unranked and the USC Trojans may improve slightly in the rankings following their home win. But that will depend on the teams ahead of them suffering losses.

But Did They Cover? The Trojans opened as 17-point favorites and were bet down to as low as 16 or 16.5-point favorites. Since they won the game by 18 points, the Trojans were able to cover.

For More On This Game: For more on the California Golden Bears, join the discussion over at California Golden Blogs. For more on USC football, join the discussion over at Conquest Chronicles. You can also check out everything we have to offer at SB Nation’s college football hub.

Next Week's Schedule: Now 3-1 on the season, the Trojans will prepare to take on the Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Thursday, Oct. 4. Meanwhile, the Golden Bears will look to recover Saturday, Sept. 29 against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Memorial Stadium.

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This article was originally published on SB Nation.com.

USC Vs. Cal Score: Trojans Lead 17-9 After Third Quarter

Entering the third quarter down 14 points, the California Golden Bears have been able to trim the lead in the third quarter and now find themselves down 17-9 to the USC Trojans.

The Golden Bears scored six points in the third quarter, thanks to the leg of kicker Vincenzo D'Amato, while the defense was able to hold the Trojans off of the board completely. In fact, the first two drives for the Golden Bears offense led to points, but the team was unable to come away with any more points in the third quarter.

Also, the Golden Bears offense continued to do the one thing they did extremely well in the first half: control the clock. The team entered halftime with a lead in the time-of-possession battle and improved their lead in the category in the third quarter.

Now the question is, can they continue to limit possessions the potent Trojans offense will receive while also putting up points on the board?

Talk about the game with Cal fans at the California Golden Blogs, and with USC fans at Conquest Chronicles.

USC Vs. Cal Score: Trojans Lead 17-3 After Second Quarter

Having opened up the second quarter down seven points, the California Golden Bears were unable to crawl their way back into the game and will instead enter halftime trailing the USC Trojans by the score of 20-3.

The Golden Bears have been able to do one thing that should help them in the second half, and that's controlling the clock. The team is winning the time of possession battle, but are still face to face with a large deficit. If they want to have a chance to win this game, Cal will need to find a way to solve their offensive woes.

That will start with Golden Bears quarterback Zach Maynard. The senior quarterback is 8-for-13 on the day, but has accumulated just 66 yards and has thrown one interception. As a team, the Golden Bears have converted only two of their nine third downs.

However, the major difference in Saturday's game thus far has been the running games. The Golden Bears rushing attack has mightily struggled Saturday afternoon, averaging just 1.7 yards per carry. On the other hand, the Trojans are averaging 10.5 yards per carry, thanks to Curtis McNeal's 113 first half rushing yards.

Talk about the game with Cal fans at the California Golden Blogs, and with USC fans at Conquest Chronicles.

USC Vs. Cal Score Update: Trojans Lead 7-0 After First Quarter

After nearly upsetting Ohio State last week, the California Golden Bears are trailing 7-0 to the 13th-ranked USC Trojans through one quarter on Saturday. The Bears haven't fared nearly as well against USC so far, struggling on both sides of the ball.

Other than an interception of USC quarterback Matt Barkley in the red zone, California hasn't had much go right yet on Saturday. The offense has mustered just 65 total yards so far against the Trojan's defense, an average of just 4.3 yards per play.

USC, meanwhile, has ran wild against Cal's defense so far. The Trojans have carried the ball nine times for 119 yards, including a 33-yard touchdown scamper by Silas Redd that put USC ahead. Redd isn't even USC's leading rusher, as Curtis McNeal has 77 yards rushing on three carries.

Cal quarterback Zach Maynard has had mixed results, completing 5-of-8 passes for 41 yards with one interception. He did manage to lead California into the red zone on one possession, but embattled kicker Vicenzo D'Amato missed yet another field goal attempt, this time from 35 yards out.

Talk about the game with Cal fans at the California Golden Blogs, and with USC fans at Conquest Chronicles.

Cal Vs. USC 2012: Game Time, TV Schedule, Odds And More

The California Golden Bears take on the USC Trojans on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum, as both come off of pretty devastating losses. Cal saw a winnable game at the Horseshoe slip through their fingers at Ohio State in a 35-28 defeat. USC saw their national championship hopes dealt a severe blow when they were stifled by Stanford for the fourth straight season, losing 21-14 to the Cardinal.

All signs point to USC righting the ship. The Trojans have beaten the Bears in their last eight meetings, and the last three have not been close. USC is at home in what figures to be a must-win game if they have any chance of getting back into the BCS race. Cal will try their best to get back to .500, but they will probably be getting the best effort of a mad Trojan team on the road. It's been rare for the Bears to play two good games in a row, so we'll have to see what the Bears can do.

The game will kickoff around 3 PM PT on the Pac-12 Network (check your cable or satellite provider to see if they carry the channel). USC is favored by 16 to 16.5 points over California.

Talk about the game with Cal fans at the California Golden Blogs, and with USC fans at Conquest Chronicles.

Cal Vs. USC: Golden Bears Pessimistic About Trojans

The California Golden Bears have not beaten the USC Trojans since 2003, meaning they've lost eight in a row in the series. Cal's eight-game losing streak to USC is the second longest among Pac-10 schools behind Washington State. They haven't been relatively close in awhile, with their losses tending toward the blowout variety the last few contests (losses of 21, 34, and 27 the last three seasons). The offense has struggled forever and ever against the USC defensive front regardless of the season.

The Cal fans seems not to be all that comfortable with their chances of beating USC. Here is a recent California Golden Blogs roundtable that seemed to indicate Cal fans are not optimistic of their victory despite a strong showing against Ohio State last year. The excerpts seem to believe Golden Bears fans need to see something before they believe it.

History seems to be a big factor.

I don't have a lot of hope against USC. I'm sorry to say, but I just don't. I've seen Cal teams go into the Coliseum and struggle down there. We haven't beaten them since 2003. I'm not trying to be unduly negative here, it's just a situation of "I'll believe it when I see it. And until I see it, I'm struggle to believe it."

The recent loss against Stanford also is an issue, because they now believe USC will be in must-win mode.

On the other hand, the furd upset of USC totally discourages me for a few reasons. #1 is because I wanted us to be the ones to beat them, #2 is because that game will probably serve as a wake-up call for them, and #3 is because now USC will probably be pissed and will take it out on us next week. They always seem to be able to solve whatever it is that ails them against us, so I'm definitely discouraged by their loss.

Talk about the picks with Cal fans by hitting up the California Golden Blogs, and with USC fans by checking out Conquest Chronicles.

Cal Vs. USC Picks: Trojans Unanimously Predicted To Win

The USC Trojans had a tough time last week, falling short against the Stanford Cardinal. USC's national championship hopes appear to be in deep trouble after losing their Pac-12 season opener, although they still stand a good shot at getting back into the mix if they can go totally unblemished in conference play.

That means winning the rest of their football games, starting with a game this Saturday against the California Golden Bears. Cal is coming off a tough loss to Ohio State, where they came close to pulling out a victory in the Horseshoe but couldn't finish things off. The Bears now must pull off a stunning upset against a USC team they never seem to be able to beat.

Berkelium97 of the California Golden Blogs compiles all the picks and has about every expert on the board taking USC. On the bright side, a few experts seem to have Cal covering the spread against USC, so that's an improvement!

Talk about the game with USC football fans by heading on over to Conquest Chronicles, and with Cal football fans over at the California Golden Blogs.

College Football 2012 Schedule: Cal Goes For Upset At USC

Cal travels to Los Angeles to open Pac-12 play against the USC Trojans as part of Week 4 of the 2012 college football schedule.

Cal Vs. USC Odds: Trojans Heavy Favorites Over Golden Bears

For the second straight week, the California Golden Bears are huge underdogs against a big-time opponent in the USC Trojans. Can they do their best to make a respectable effort and at least cover the spread?

The Cal/USC line opened up at 17 points, but has dropped down a bit to 15.5 to 16 points. There is probably a confluence of factors in the line dropping from the original spot, particularly with the Bears performing well last week in defeat and USC strugging mightily in a loss to Stanford. The Trojans are still heavy favorites to win, but they hardly look like the dominant men of Troy they've always been.

Cal were also big underdogs in the Horseshoe against Ohio State, but they managed to rally from a two touchdown effort to tie the game. The big problem is that Cal hasn't recently put that type of effort together against USC, losing by three touchdowns or more in their three previous meetings. The Bears probably will not find a better chance to pull out a victory, particularly with USC still probably stunned from their last defeat.

Talk about the game with Cal fans at the California Golden Blogs, with USC fans at Conquest Chronicles, and with Pac-12 fans at Pacific Takes.

Cal Vs. USC Betting Lines & Spread

After probably ruining a fair share of USC Trojan last Saturday, it is time for the Cal Golden Bears to play upset as the Trojans have a range of a 15.5 to 17 point spread over for Saturday's game.

The Trojans dropped to No. 13 in the AP poll after a surprise 42-29 loss last Saturday. The over on the game currently sits at 57 points, which is just a shade under how many points the Trojans average and give up. USC is currently scoring 35 points a game and giving up 20.

The Bears have struggled despite putting up good offensive numbers. The Bears fell short at Ohio State 35-28. The Bears are currently averaging 34 points a game, good for 44th in the nation, but are also giving up their fair share of points with 32.3 a game.

For more on USC football, join the discussion over at Conquest Chronicles. You can also check out everything we have to offer at SB Nation's college football hub.

Cal Vs. USC: Golden Bears Try To Recover Against Trojans

The California Golden Bears and USC Trojans both come off highly contested losses to face each other in the Coliseum. Cal has not beaten USC in nine years.