Huskies ready for toughest test of season against surging USC
Published 5:15 pm Friday, November 11, 2016
Herald news services
SEATTLE — Even in an alternate reality, the results Chris Petersen has gotten from his team would likely be the same.
Except it might not be Washington that Petersen has ranked No. 4 in the country and positioned for a run at a Pac-12 championship and the College Football Playoff. If the decisions made in late 2013 played out differently, Petersen could just as easily be having this much success at USC.
But it’s the Huskies (9-0, 6-0 Pac-12) that Petersen has on the verge of a special season with Saturday’s game against USC as one of the biggest remaining obstacles on Washington’s schedule.
“You put the tape on and you’re like ‘OK, first of all it’s USC.’ Then you put it on and it’s like, ‘Oh, OK. I get it. I know why they’re winning now,’” Petersen said. “They’re playing really good and they have that talent they’ve always had.”
Petersen is correct that the Trojans are surging. After the shaky beginning to the season and the switch to redshirt freshman Sam Darnold at quarterback, the Trojans have looked the part for more than a month of being arguably the most talented team in the Pac-12. USC (6-3, 5-2) is not ranked in the Top 25 but did find its way into the CFP rankings this week at No. 20. The five-game win streak is the longest of any team in the Pac-12 outside the state of Washington.
“You earn respect by winning ballgames, that’s just a fact,” USC coach Clay Helton said. “The reason that we are where we are is we have had a good run, and now we’ve got to keep that run going if we want to climb further.”
While Oregon and Washington State are the true rivals for the Huskies, there is a lengthy history of important benchmark wins against USC. One of those came last year. Even in a season where Washington finished with just seven wins, a 17-12 victory over the Trojans in Los Angeles was important in helping validate what Petersen was trying to build.
Saturday could be another one of those moments, even though Washington is the favorite. No team in the Pac-12 South is hotter than the Trojans and a win would certainly boost Washington’s resume in the opinion of the College Football Playoff committee.
“I think our guys know. You know how big a game this is; it’s USC, all those type of things,” Petersen said. “Everybody. I certainly wouldn’t do it thinking I need to get these guys more motivated and fired up.”
ESPN “College GameDay” is in town, a sellout crowd is expected at Husky Stadium and many eyes in the college football world will be watching when the Huskies host the Trojans on Saturday. Here are five things to watch:
1. Can the Huskies pressure USC quarterback Darnold?
No player has been more essential during the Trojans’ five-game winning streak than redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold, who replaced Max Browne as the team’s starter after three games and has since revitalized USC’s offense.
In six games as USC’s starter, Darnold has thrown 18 touchdown passes and three interceptions — he had two touchdowns and an interception in backup duty — and is completing 67.9 percent of his passes with an efficiency rating that ranks seventh in the country.
And at 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, he is a tough runner who can be difficult to tackle.
“I think Sam Darnold is a special football player, I really do,” UW defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake said. “I really believe this young quarterback is going to be a star in this conference. Just having him back there throwing the ball, he’s very accurate, he’s going to give his receivers a lot of chances to make a lot of plays.”
Since losing defensive end Joe Mathis to a foot injury, the Huskies have managed only three sacks in three games. But defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said he still thinks the Huskies have been effective rushing the passer, citing their eight hits on Cal quarterback Davis Webb and seven hits on Utah quarterback Troy Williams.
“As long as we’re hitting him and he feels us, it’s all good,” Kwiaktowski said. “As long as he feels us, whether we’re getting the sacks or not, that’s what’s most important.”
USC, though, has allowed only nine sacks in nine games this season, a sacks-per-game ratio that ranks seventh nationally. UW needs more production from Mathis’ replacement, Connor O’Brien, as well as recently banged-up outside linebackers Psalm Wooching and Tevis Bartlett.
2. Another fun matchup for UW’s Jones
UW’s star cornerback Sidney Jones played most of this season without seeing many passes thrown his way, locking down his receiver so effectively that opposing quarterbacks mostly avoided him.
At California last week, though, Jones knew he would get a little more action. That’s because he covered the Pac-12’s leading receiver, Chad Hansen, to whom Cal throws often.
The result: two interceptions, two pass break-ups and Pac-12 defensive player of the week honors, though Hansen did catch a 30-yard go-route against Jones and also caught a touchdown pass that Lake said wasn’t Jones’ fault.
So it should be fun to watch the matchup this week between Jones and ultra-talented USC receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who leads USC with 48 catches for 641 yards and eight touchdowns.
“He’s so big and strong,” Lake said of Smith-Schuster, who goes 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds. “Really attacks the football, and they do a good scheme, design plays to get him the football. Uses his power and strength to really mow over DBs. We’re going to have to match his strength with our strength and attack the football the way he attacks the football.”
3. USC’s run defense will test the Huskies
Against Pac-12 teams only, the Trojans allow 4.16 yards per rush. That figure ranks third in the conference, five spots ahead of the Huskies at 4.80.
So this could be a difficult matchup for UW running backs Myles Gaskin and Lavon Coleman, both of whom have been efficient and productive throughout this season.
Gaskin needs only 48 yards to crack the 1,000-yard mark for the second consecutive season, but he’s going against a USC defense that held Oregon’s Royce Freeman to 38 yards on 10 carries last week and has allowed only two 100-yard rushers this season (Alabama’s Damien Harris and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey).
USC’s top three tacklers are linebackers Cameron Smith and Michael Hutchings and defensive end Porter Gustin. That trio has also combined for 18 tackles for loss and five sacks.
The Huskies currently rank sixth nationally in yards per rush at 5.92.
“They’ve got some players up front that create some challenges,” UW offensive coordinator Jonathan Smith said. “They play a good scheme. They trust their back end, so they do like to load the box, and they’ve got some good players that can cover. So kind of all of that. Talent and the scheme makes them tough against the run.”
4. … and the Huskies have to stop the run, too
The Trojans are tied for 12th nationally in yards per rush, and they have a pair of running backs — Ronald Jones II and Justin Davis — who create the kind of 1-2 punch few other teams possess.
Davis has missed USC’s last three games with an ankle injury, though he returned to practice this week and Helton said Wednesday that Davis looked good.
Jones and Davis have combined for 1,155 yards rushing and nine touchdowns this season, and sophomore Aca’Cedric Ware has chipped in 366 yards on 70 carries.
“There are four or five guys that I’ve seen in there that I’m like, ‘now who is this guy?’” Petersen said. “They have tremendous depth there. We’ve been relatively healthy there, so that’s been good for us, but this is probably the most depth I’ve seen on another team.”
5. New uniforms
In honor of Veterans Day, the Huskies will wear new “Salute to Service” uniforms on Saturday, their first deviation this season from their traditional purple and gold.
Instead, the Huskies will wear black uniforms with black helmets featuring a United States flag-themed “W” decal, and each player will wear a patch on his jersey with the name of a different veteran affiliated with UW.
“It’s about our military,” Petersen said. “I think it’s the perfect time of what’s going on right now in our country, and that’s just our way to acknowledge and thank ‘em.”
The News Tribune’s Christian Caple contributed to this story.
