This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
No. 3 Utah will visit USC this Saturday as the only top-four team in the AP poll to be an underdog against an unranked team since at least 1998, the good people at OddsShark.com were kind enough to discover for us.
No. 5 teams have been underdogs against unranked teams twice in the 18 seasons recorded by the OddsShark.com database (see here).
In October 2007, No. 5 Wisconsin was a 2.5-point dog at unranked Illinois and lost 31-26.
In November 2002, No. 5 Georgia got two points against unranked Florida for a neutral site game in Jacksonville and fell 20-13.
Of games involving AP top-three teams against unranked foes, OddsShark.com could only find two instances when the top-three team was favored by less than 3.5 points.
No. 2 South Florida was favored by just 1 at Rutgers in October 2007 and lost, 30-27.
No. 2 Florida State last year gave just two points to host Miami, edging the Hurricanes 30-26.
Common thread in those four games: Vegas was onto something.
But No. 3 Utah against a 3-3 USC team with an interim head coach will put the smart money to its truest test yet Saturday.
— Matthew Piper
Twitter: @matthew_piper