USC vs. Texas A&M Betting Preview - Las Vegas Bowl

Southern California and Texas A&M were among those talked about early on to make the playoffs.

Instead, they'll be playing in Friday night's late game, the Las Vegas Bowl.

First played in 1992, the Las Vegas Bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada, before moving to the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, in 2021. The bowl is owned and operated by ESPN Events. Tie-ins include the Pac-12 (2024-25), SEC (2022, 2024) and Big Ten (2023, 2025).

The line on today's game opened at Aggies -2.5 and moved to -3 with 71% of those betting the spread backing Texas A&M.

There is the slightest overlay as Sagarin gives us a number of 1.49.

The Trojans (6-6) will try to avoid their first losing season since 2021 when they went 4-8 and coach Clay Helton was fired. Riley took over the program and immediately went 11-3 followed by an 8-5 record last season.

USC appeared to be on the way back to prominence after opening this season with a 27-20 victory over then-No. 13 LSU. But the Trojans lost five games in which they led in the fourth quarter, which is why they're back in Las Vegas and not potentially preparing for a playoff game.

“You've just got to stay consistent all the way through and locked in the small things,” USC safety Bryson Shaw said of the lessons learned from the close calls. “We learned a lot this year. It's been great for us in bowl preparation.”

Texas A&M (8-4) also was coming off a victory over LSU when it looked as if the Aggies might even be playing for a national title. They were 7-1 after the 38-23 victory, and at 5-0 the only undefeated team in the Southeastern Conference.

But then came the season-ending slide.

“It obviously hurt,” Texas A&M linebacker Taurean York said. “Obviously, we wanted to be in the playoffs, but it's not how our story ended this year. So, hopefully, it ends the right way with a win over USC.”

The Aggies will be without defensive ends Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart, defensive tackle Shemar Turner and backup wide receiver Moose Muhammad III, who opted out to prepare for the NFL draft.

USC will also be missing key players.

Our play is USC +3 here.