On ESPN College GameDay, Desmond Howard picks USC, unlike Lee Corso

USC-Michigan is just a few hours from kickoff. It’s the Big Ten feature presentation in Week 4. It’s USC’s first-ever Big Ten Conference game as a new member of the league. It’s USC’s first trip to the Big House in Ann Arbor in several decades. This game brings the Rose Bowl’s most-played matchup — USC and Michigan have met eight times in the Granddaddy — to the Midwest. For once, it’s USC visiting Michigan and playing on the Wolverines’ home turf, instead of UM going to Southern California to face the Trojans on January 1. ESPN College GameDay picked the Trojans-Wolverines clash. Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Nick Saban, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and the rest of the GameDay crew made their picks for all of the biggest games of Week 4, with Tennessee and Oklahoma joining USC versus Michigan as one of the central showdowns on this third Saturday of September. USC is a small favorite over the Maize and Blue in this game. If you pay attention to betting lines when game lines are released over the summer, months before the start of the actual college football season, you will recall that Michigan was close to a 10-point favorite over USC when the first game lines came out for this battle. The current line just before kickoff on Saturday represents a swing of roughly two touchdowns — 14 points — toward the Trojans. That’s how far public opinion has shifted on this game. Let’s see where each of the ESPN College GameDay commentators landed on this game. A few members of the panel predicted a Michigan upset over Lincoln Riley’s Men of Troy.