Should USC Be Fearful of Fresno State?

The notion that USC should be afraid of Fresno State is pretty silly, but the question was asked to MSNBC's college football expert Joey Johnston, and Johnston gives a pretty good answer:

Fearful? Definitely not.

Wary? Definitely.

Cognizant of avoiding complacency and not looking ahead to the cross-town rivalry meeting with UCLA? Absolutely.

This shouldn’t be a pushover game. Fresno State (8-1), almost more than any other program in recent seasons, has rallied itself into a beat-the-BCS-school upset fervor. Fresno State has won 10 of its last 17 meetings against BCS conference schools. It’s hard to forget the 2001 season, when the Bulldogs opened with victories against Colorado, Oregon State and Wisconsin (probably costing Colorado a shot at playing for the national championship).

Johnston goes on to give some pretty good insight on the game, including what Fresno State needs to do to win (offense, special teams, the Notre Dame model), and seems to suggest USC can roll over Fresno State even if overlooking us, before dropping the closest final score prediction yet:

Even if USC does look past Fresno State — an unlikely prospect since USC coach Pete Carroll has been cautioning his team for days about the mentality of this game — the Trojans still have the horses to win powerfully. Fresno State has Us vs. Them emotion, and the Other Side of the Tracks incentive. But it’s not going to be quite enough.

USC 40, Fresno State 28.

Obviously, as a passionate and lifelong fan of Fresno State, until the game is over, I'm not conceding anything about the outcome of the game. In my mind, we can win if everything comes together. But, if we lose, but by only 12 points at USC, we are going to feel pretty good about that, build on it, and earn a lot of respect. Still, for now, the only compelling argument is going in there and winning the damn game!