USC vs. TCU prediction: Odds, picks, best bet for Alamo Bowl
There’s a lot of work to do before making a bet on Tuesday’s Alamo Bowl between TCU and USC.
The Trojans (9-3, 7-2) are 5.5-point favorites and will be buoyed by the fact that their starting quarterback, Jayden Maiava, will not only participate in this contest but also return to the team for the 2026 campaign.
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That said, Maiava will be without his three most trusted pass-catchers, Makai Lemon, Ja’Kobi Lane and Lake McRee.
USC’s defense will also be ravaged by opt-outs, leaving Lincoln Riley without much choice but to bring an inexperienced lineup to San Antonio.
TCU’s roster is mostly intact for this showdown, but the Horned Frogs do have a massive hole to fill.
Josh Hoover, the team’s star quarterback, is hitting the transfer portal and will skip this contest.
Alamo Bowl: USC vs. TCU odds, prediction
There are some bowl games where you essentially need to ignore all the data from the regular season. This seems like one of those situations.
USC’s offense was a buzzsaw all season, ranking fourth in yards per play and ninth in yards per pass, but those numbers will likely take a huge dip without Lane, Lemon and McRee.
Maybe Maiava finds chemistry with the deputies, but the ceiling for this attack is now severely limited.
The same goes for TCU.
Hoover was getting Heisman buzz early in the campaign and is considered one of the best players in the portal for the upcoming season, so who knows what this offense — which wasn’t a dominant force with Hoover at the helm — will look like with veteran Ken Seals under center.
Betting on College Football?
It’s a nice story for Seals, who is making his first start in two years, and he’ll be the beneficiary of a depleted USC defense, but it feels like the ceiling for TCU’s offense is that the veteran signal-caller manages the game well, but doesn’t light up the scoreboard.
With so much firepower on the sidelines, it’s hard to be confident in either side in this game.
That said, the total, which is set at 56.5 points, seems a couple of ticks too high for a game that could be quite scrappy.
The Play: Under 56.5 points (-110, FanDuel)
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
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