Odds for the USC vs. Washington State game have the Trojans considered narrow favorites over the Cougars, who are looking to repeat last year’s upset.

It’s a sign of the hole the Trojans find themselves in three games into the 2018 season that the line for USC vs. Washington State opened on Sunday at just 4.5 points in favor of the home side, per OddsShark.

Since oddsmakers usually spot home teams a three-point boost in the spread, they see very little to separate the two teams.

By contrast, USC was a six-point favorite on the road over WSU last year. Of course, the outcome of that game speaks to this week’s contest. The Cougars upset the Trojans in Pullman on a Friday night.

Once again the two will meet on a Friday night, though the venue will change with the Coliseum playing host. USC remains undefeated at home in 16 games during Clay Helton’s tenure and they’ll be looking to increase that streak to 17.

To do so they will have to bounce back from two consecutive road losses. After falling to Stanford 17-3 in Week 2, the Trojans traveled to Texas and were humbled 37-14 by the Longhorns.

Three weeks of shaky performances haven’t done much for confidence in this USC team’s ability to win handily. They are 0-3 against the spread in 2018.

Two of those ATS losses were as slight underdogs to Stanford and Texas. The other was as a sizable favorite over UNLV.

Meanwhile, the Cougars are off to a hot start at 3-0. They have bested Wyoming, San Jose State and Eastern Washington by an average margin of 29 points.

USC will be the first Pac-12 squad Washington State faces, however, and the first opponent of true consequence. This will also be the first game the Cougars are not favored to win.

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Friday will either legitimize WSU’s start and put the Trojans in an even deeper hole, or put USC back on track.