Red-hot Trojans pose a big threat to No. 4 Huskies’ undefeated record
Nov 8, 2016, 12:00 PM | Updated: 3:30 pm
Less than two weeks ago, the Huskies played their biggest game of the year. This Saturday, they’ll do it again.
For the second time in three weeks, No. 4 Washington will have ESPN’s “College GameDay” on hand for one of their games. But unlike in their win at Utah, this time it will be on their home campus and against a red-hot USC team that is on the precipice of the Top 25.
There’s plenty of reason why USC is waiting in the wings. The 6-3 Trojans have won five games in a row, and their three losses have come against No. 1 Alabama, No. 13 Utah and a capable Stanford team that had yet to see its roster decimated by injuries.
So yes, the Huskies’ undefeated record will be tested once again on Saturday. And not only that, it will come against a team with motivation to play spoiler to an opponent with big postseason hopes considering that’s exactly what UW did to the Trojans last year. The Huskies knocked off then-No. 17 USC 17-12, beginning a tailspin for a Trojans program that saw head coach Steve Sarkisian ousted en route to a disappointing 8-6 record.
Under new coach Clay Helton, however, the Trojans haven’t looked anything like the team that ended 2015 in disarray. In fact, USC looks like a program back on the rise.
“USC is right back to USC. You just watch the tape. This is, across the board, really good,” UW coach Chris Petersen said Monday. “Tons of talent like you’d expect USC to have and now they are playing in rhythm in all three phases. … They are playing well, they’ve got good players, they’re well-coached. I’m glad we’re playing at home and it’ll be a heck of a game.”
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There’s some similarities between this year’s Trojans squad and last year’s UW team, with the quarterback position being at the top of the list. Just like the Huskies in 2015, USC has turned to a highly-touted freshman quarterback, and just like Jake Browning steadily improved throughout the year for the Dawgs, Sam Darnold is turning heads for the Trojans. This season, Darnold has 1,874 yards, 20 touchdowns and just four interceptions, and he’s coming off a 309-yard performance last week in a big 45-20 victory over Oregon.
Darnold could be a big source of worry heading into the game for the Huskies, too, considering they’ll be without their top pass-rusher in Joe Mathis, who Petersen revealed on Monday will miss the rest of the season due to foot surgery.
The other big comparison to last year’s Huskies and the current Trojans is that defense is the clear No. 1 strength. USC hasn’t allowed a team to score more than 20 points during its winning streak, and it ranks 38th in the nation in total defense at 373.1 yards allowed per game.
It’s easy to build up the importance of Saturday’s game for UW, and Petersen is well aware. And as he has shown throughout the Huskies’ high-profile season, he’s not about to add fuel to the fire.
“You know how big a game this is. It’s USC, all those type of things,” he said. “I think that’s one of the things that maybe sometimes we’re too excited to play. I think about that this week.”
