LOS ANGELES Kent Baer said he can’t wait to see the film of Saturday’s 26-20 loss to USC. Not so much because the Washington defensive coordinator wants to relive the game, but because he wants to see just what happened when the Trojans scored on a fake field goal on USC’s opening series.
“I can’t wait to see it because I’m not sure if it was legal or not,” Baer said. “We didn’t see (Steve Smith) standing there. We didn’t have our eyes open and it’s difficult. It’s unfortunate that happens early in the game. That certainly took a little bit out of us.”
The play came at the end of an 18-play, 96-yard drive. USC lined up for a field goal attempt but holder Michael McDonald instead fielded the snap and passed to Smith wide open on the right sideline and Smith walked in for the game’s opening score.
There was some discussion over whether the play should be whistled dead because McDonald’s knee was on the ground when he got the ball, but the rules state that that does not apply to kicks. The bigger issue is if Smith was in the huddle when the team broke to line up.
“Was he on the field or was he off the field?” head coach Tyrone Willingham said. “Then you’re trying to make sure they have the proper alignment when they execute that play. It was a good call and they seemed to execute it very well.”
The belief among the Huskies was they thought Smith was headed off the field and so they didn’t account for him on the play.
“We didn’t recognize the formation,” cornerback Roy Lewis said. “We thought he came from the sideline. …It took us by surprise. …I think he was on the field and he went to the sideline like he’s talking to the coach and technically he’s a legal player. They snapped the ball and we were out of position.”
Punting trouble: Though Sean Douglas had an outstanding start to the day, things went downhill quickly for the Washington punter. After opening the game with a 68-yard punt to the USC 4, Douglas had to rush a punt that barely got off after a high snap from Danny Morovick, and later had a punt blocked, leading to a USC field goal.
Willingham said the blocked punt was his fault as the Huskies had “something called” on that play that wasn’t communicated to everyone.
“We wanted to do something else,” Willingham said. “We were prepared to run it but the communication got lost.”
“We had a communication error,” Douglas said. “We had something called going out there. When we got out there they lined up in a way we didn’t like so we got out of that. It was loud at that time, somebody didn’t hear it so we had a little miscommunication.”
Line shakeup: For the first time this season, someone other than the five starters played on the Husky offensive line. Junior Erik Berglund started at left tackle instead of Ben Ossai, who had started the first five games. Willingham wasn’t specific about why Ossai didn’t start but alluded to it being some kind of disciplinary action. Berglund played the first two series before Ossai entered the game.
Injury update: Safety Jason Wells and cornerback Dashon Goldson both suffered concussions in the game, according to Willingham, though it appeared that trainers were tending to Goldson’s leg and he was helped off the field gingerly. Goldson has battled a high ankle sprain this season but led Washington with 10 tackles Saturday. It also appeared that Stanback was banged up, something confirmed by Willingham, but the nature of the injury wasn’t clear.
Good production: USC came in allowing just 12 points a game but Washington passed that early in the third quarter. The Trojans had also only allowed two touchdown passes all season but Stanback had two against them.
“We had a good offensive game plan,” Lappano said. “We ran it against a good defense, threw the ball all over the field. What hurt us was when we got inside the 5-yard line, we put the ball on the ground. …We dropped some balls and we had too many errant throws. When you have a game like this that all adds up. That’s the difference in the game. It shouldn’t have come down to this. If we execute better, it doesn’t come down to this.”
The game continued a good roll for both Stanback and receiver Sonny Shackelford. Stanback now has seven touchdown passes in his last three games and for the season has nine TD passes and three interceptions. Shackelford has three straight games of at least 100-receiving yards and now has 23 catches in his last three games and 30 catches for 440 yards on the season.
A good call: Marlon Wood’s 46-yard end-around run to open the third quarter was the longest running play USC has allowed all season. Lappano said it was the right time to pull that play out.
“We saw based on how they were playing our bunch and our run, they were pinching the ends,” Lappano said. “I thought it was a good time to do it, especially after a sudden change like that (Washington recovering an onside kick). I like doing things like that after a change.”
On-the-line success: Both teams had good production on third down, with Washington converting 8 of 16 and USC going 7-for-16. But the Trojans were also 3-for-3 on fourth downs.
“The unfortunate thing was most of those fourth downs were pretty short and hard to stop,” Baer said. “You don’t have a lot of options.”
Breaking the shutout: When Michael Braunstein kicked a field goal in the third quarter, it was the first points, the Trojans have allowed in the third quarter all season.
Captains: The game-day captains were linebacker Dan Howell, quarterback Isaiah Stanback, defensive end Greyson Gunheim and running back Kenny James.
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