Patterson: Huskies fail big test of legitimacy

Published 7:00 am Sunday, November 13, 2016

SEATTLE — Saturday, Nov. 12 was judgment day for the University of Washington football team.

Bright lights, big stage, a chance to prove to the skeptics that the Huskies belonged.

But if the modern-day equivalent of Caesar was gazing down from the luxury boxes at Husky Stadium, he most definitely would have turned his thumb down.

Washington failed the test of whether it was a legitimate national championship contender Saturday, falling 26-13 to the USC Trojans, and as a result the Huskies’ chances at the College Football Playoff are all but dashed.

This was the Huskies’ opportunity to make the naysayers eat their words. Washington was elevated to fourth in the CFP rankings this week, meaning that had the season ended Friday the Huskies would have been one of the four teams that advanced to the playoffs.

But at the national level there was more than a little skepticism about the Huskies’ position in the top four. While the Dawgs were undefeated, who had they beat? Pundits expounded on Washington’s low strength of schedule, arguing teams like Ohio State and Louisville had better resumes, despite having one loss. This was no gentle whisper, it was more like the noisy background rumble at a trendy restaurant that makes it difficult to make out what the person at the other end of the table is saying.

So Saturday’s game against USC was the chance to hit the mute button on the critics.

The Trojans were the a legitimate opponent. USC came into town riding a five-game winning streak — scoring 40 points per game in the process — to climb to 20th in the CFP rankings. This could have been the signature win the Huskies needed to get the the naysayers off their back.

The game was in the national spotlight. The ESPN College GameDay crew traveled to Seattle this weekend to sit in judgment of the Huskies and determine whether they truly belonged in the final four. Representatives from the Peach Bowl, which is serving as one of the national semifinals this season, were on hand to get a look at what they could be getting. The whole nation would see for themselves whether the Huskies had what it takes.

Unfortunately for Washington, it turns out the doubters were right.

USC came at Washington with a quality the Huskies hadn’t seen this season. The Trojans had a talented young quarterback in redshirt freshman Sam Darnold who had both the arm and the legs to threaten Washington. They had a fast and talented defense capable of keeping pace with the Huskies’ lightning offense that was averaging 48.3 points per game, the second most in the country.

And the Trojans unmasked the Huskies for who they truly are: a good team that’s not quite ready to be among the nation’s elite.

Washington wasn’t able to deliver the goods in any aspect of the game when it counted.

On offense the Dawgs had a chance to turn the game around when Jake Browning’s 70-yard touchdown pass to John Ross in the third quarter — the only mistake the USC defense made the entire game — was followed two plays later by a Taylor Rapp interception that gave Washington the ball at the USC 33 yard line. But with a chance to take the lead the offense responded with a sterile sequence that got no closer than the 19.

On defense, the Huskies needed to hold the Trojans at the end of the first half to salvage going into halftime trailing by just four points. Instead USC’s offense sliced through Washington’s D in less than two minutes, driving 82 yards on nine plays to up the Trojans’ lead to 17-6.

On special teams Washington should have pulled within one in the third quarter, but Cameron Van Winkle’s 38-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Darreus Rogers, blunting any momentum the Huskies may have built.

None of it looked like a national championship contender. Not that the CFB playoffs are much of a concern for the Huskies anymore. Even though two of the other top four teams, Clemson and Michigan, lost on Saturday as well, there’s no doubt Washington is going to find itself at the back of the line among the one-loss teams — and maybe even behind some two-loss squads.

“I don’t care (about the national championship repercussions of the loss),” Browning, who also probably saw his Heisman Trophy hopes go up in smoke, said following the game. “We have to play a better game against (Arizona State next week). We’re going to find out what kind of team we are. Are we the team that’s going to throw in the towel and say, ‘All right, we’re not undefeated anymore so I’m kind of over this?’ Or are we going to be the team that bounces back and has the best game of our lives against ASU? We’re going to find out.”

But given the manner of Saturday’s loss, that UW team is unlikely to be a playoff one, no matter how well it responds.

For more on the Seattle sports scene, check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/tag/seattle-sidelines, or follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.