For all of you who think the Huskies have turned it around based on their three-point defeat to mighty USC — and you know who you are — you can stop right now.
The Trojans were simply average in their 27-24 win at Husky Stadium Saturday night. If ever there was a game in which a heavily favored team probably should have kicked a game away, it was this one.
Think of it. The Trojans thugged and slogged their way to 16 penalties for 161 yards. They were undisciplined, with three personal fouls in the first half. Quarterback John David Booty fumbled a snap, which led to a Washington touchdown in a two-play, 14-yard walk. He threw two picks, one that bounced off a receiver and landed into the hands of UW cornerback Mesphin Forrester, who turned it into 54-yard scoring return.
There was a bad punt snap that led to a blocked punt and another UW touchdown. Then there were all those dropped passes. The night was so bad for the Trojans that they lost their No. 1 ranking to LSU.
When the fortunate Trojans escaped the field and filed into their dressing room, one was heard to exclaim, “I HATE playin’ in cold weather.” The Trojans would rather have been anywhere but Husky Stadium that night.
These are not your father’s Trojans, or even your older brother’s. They were sloppy, ill-prepared and full of themselves. While the third description is nothing new for USC, this is a group that can’t back up its arrogance.
All three of the Trojans’ most difficult games are on the road: at Oregon, at Cal and at ASU. Unless they pull off some magical comeback in their play, the prediction here is that they’ll lose all three.
Knowing they couldn’t compete with USC based purely on talent alone, the Huskies, to their credit, hung in with remarkable resilience, an ingredient instilled in them by coach Ty Willingham. Say what you want about the mistake-prone Huskies; they never, ever give up.
“I think our football team had an excellent effort,” Willingham said this week. “We were obviously not perfect in the areas that we needed to be to make a difference. But I also remember saying that it didn’t take a perfect ballgame to win, nor did we anticipate one from our opponent. We had to play a great ballgame and we fell short in many areas.”
This was a reiteration of Willingham’s mantra last week of “don’t believe the hype.” He rightly knew that today’s USC isn’t the USC of old, that the Trojans are vulnerable and that his team could at least play with them and even win if a few things went the Huskies’ way. Willingham’s hope was that the team’s ever-increasing belief in itself would produce an upset.
It nearly did.
“Our football team needs to believe that, yes, they can accomplish great things,” Willingham said. “We still have not reached the level that I think our players are comfortable with or I am comfortable with. I think we’re growing.”
As it was, a lot went the Huskies’ way and they still couldn’t pull it off.
Resilience and the Trojans’ bearing of the above array of gifts were the main reasons Washington found itself with a chance to win in the fourth quarter.
It certainly wasn’t the offense, which managed just 190 yards, compared to USC’s 460. For all his promise, Jake Locker still has played in just five NCAA football games, reason enough for him to launch wild passes over open receivers.
The Trojans’ yardage was due largely to almost non-existent tackling by the Huskies’ defense. On Stafon Johnson’s 45-yard jaunt in the second quarter, he broke through four UW defenders.
The closeness of the final score was more a function of USC’s susceptibility than any sudden breakthrough by Washington.
That isn’t to say that the Huskies haven’t improved. Take away a few mistakes, add experience to Locker’s resume, teach a few guys how to tackle and find a running game and Washington is right there among conference-title contenders.
Much improvement is obvious, but much work is left to be done.
Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. To reach Sleeper’s blog, click on “Dangling Participles” on www.heraldnet.com.
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