Washington Uses Defense To Upset #3 USC
USC has won their big game against Ohio State twice in back to back years. Its the next game they have problems with. This year, it was the Washington Huskies who pulled the upset. The Huskies defense shut down the powerful Trojans offense, and Erik Folk kicked a 22 yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining to give Washington a 16-13 victory in Seattle. USC has now lost to an unranked team in each of the past four seasons.
College football betting enthusiasts who took the Huskies as a whopping +19 home underdog were rewarded with the outright victory. The pointspread triumph also went against Washingtons dismal ATS form in recent years”the Huskies were 8-19 ATS overall and 3-15 ATS in Pac 10 games over the past three seasons.
USC was undone by a rare display of sloppy, undisciplined play much to the chagrin of coach Pete Carroll:
“We didn’t get any better from last week. I’m not doing a good enough job of making the points of how we win. We didn’t throw the ball very well today. It was obvious. We couldn’t get the ball down the field very much. We’ve rarely been in that situation.”
The Trojans played without QB Matt Barkley, who engineered the game winning drive against Ohio State last week. Barkley is nursing a sore shoulder, and his status is game to game. His backup, Aaron Corp, was held to 111 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He gave this glum assessment of his performance:
“I felt I was prepared. I just didn’t execute.
After the contest running back Joe McNight, who ran for 100 yards and scored the Trojans only touchdown, observed that superior talent can be beaten by hard work:
“Washington wasn’t the better team. They just outplayed us. Clearly, we have superior athletes. But hard work beats athleticism any day.”
The Huskies are trying to clean up the mess left by Tyrone Willingham, and this was a step in the right direction for the program. Off of the Pac 10s first 0-12 season a year ago, the team is now under the mentorship of former BYU QB and USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian who was elated with the victory:
“It’s unbelievable. It’s a great moment for our program and hopefully sends a message of where we’re headed.”
Washington running back Jake Locker, who ran for a touchdown in the first quarter, was in a state of near disbelief:
“I can’t really describe it. It’s an amazing feeling to go through what all of us have gone through and to experience what everyone wants to experience when they play college football.”
USC will try to get back on the winning track at home against Washington State next week. Theyll then head up to Northern California for a tough rivalry game against the University of California on October 3rd and then enjoy a bye week before taking to the road again to play Notre Dame. Washington will play at Stanford next weekend.
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