Washington State's narrow loss at Auburn has given the Cougars confidence they can win their Pac-12 opener on Saturday at No. 25 Southern California.

Washington State produced 464 yards of offense in losing its season opener 31-24.

Quarterback Connor Halliday was 35 of 65 for 344 yards and one touchdown, connecting with 10 different receivers. But he threw three costly interceptions. He did make some really stupid throws at the end, but highly correctable ones.

Washington State also produced 120 yards rushing, after averaging only 29 yards last season.

On defense, they also made correctable blunders. Auburn capitalized on a 100-yard kick return and a 75-yard scoring run in the second quarter that gave it the lead for good. The offense wasn't that effective otherwise.

Having played at Hawaii last week, a mainland letdown is very possible. The Trojans are still trying to find a clear-cut QB. It is way too many points very an overrated squad to lay.