Southern Cal (4-0 straight up, 2-2 against the spread) star wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane is out indefinitely due to what head coach Lincoln Riley dubbed as an “inconclusive” injury that kept him out of last night’s 45-31 win over Michigan St.
“A little bit unexpected,” Riley said about Lane’s undisclosed injury. “I don’t think it’ll be super long, but at the same time, I can’t sit here today and say for sure he’s going to play next week or in the coming weeks.”
In the Trojans’ first three games, Lane has nine receptions for 239 yards and one touchdown. He had three catches for 115 yards in last week’s 33-17 win at Purdue.
Lane caught three balls for 91 receiving yards and one TD in a 59-20 home win over Ga. Southern in Week 2. He had three receptions for 33 yards in USC’s 73-13 season-opening victory vs. Missouri St.
As a sophomore in 2024, Lane had 43 catches for 525 yards and a team-high 12 TDs. He had seven receptions for 93 yards and two TDs as a true freshman in 2023.
With Lane sidelined vs. Michigan St., QB Jayden Maiava went to WR Makai Lemon more often. Lemon produced eight catches for 127 yards and two TDs.
However, Michigan St. produced a backdoor cover as a 19-point road underdog thanks to Aaron Chiles’s 75-yard TD pass to Omari Kelly with 2:39 remaining.
USC will take its undefeated record and 2-0 mark in Big Ten play to Illinois in Week 5. As of late Sunday morning, FanDuel had the Trojans installed as 4.5-point road favorites (at a -115 price) with a total of 58.5. The Fighting Illini were +164 on the money line.
FanDuel has USC with +1200 (or 12/1) odds to win the Big Ten Championship Game. Those are tied with Michigan for the fourth-shortest odds on the board behind Ohio St. (+210), Penn St. (+260) and Oregon (+270).