Washington has won two in a row over USC with wins coming over both Pete Carroll and Lane Kiffin. This season the Huskies travel to LA for the second time in a row and they probably aren't going to find the Trojans looking past them.
USC started the season looking mediocre but over the past month "Team Kiffin" has been able to coax some impressive performances out of their squad including a down to the wire over time loss to the Stanford Cardinal. That happens to be the same Stanford Cardinal who used Washington as a doormat back in October.
The biggest reason for USC's resurgence has been the play of QB Matt Barkley. Matt is finally playing like the All American everyone expected him to be when he was recruited. He arguably is having a better season than Stanford super sensation Andrew Luck.
UW coach Steve Sarkisian who recruited Barkley while at USC says that if he was an NFL head coach he would select Barkley over Luck in the draft. We all know what UW DC Nick Holt thinks. He says he would rather prepare to play USC than Oregon....both of those playful comments got national play this week.
So who is going to end up winning this game? On paper you have to take the Trojans because they have superior talent and depth at almost every position. Of course you can say that about the Trojans almost every year but doesn't guarantee a win for the men of Troy.
Washington traditionally plays its best game of the season against USC. Most of the Washington roster is made up of players from the golden state and most of them dreamed of playing for or beating the crap out of USC. The last two games have gone down to the last tick of the clock and I expect the same scenario tomorrow.
The team that wins is going to be the one that does the best job of handling the football. The turnover ratio is going to be key in what should be a high scoring game featuring a couple of defenses who are prone to allow the opposition plenty of points.
I am pulling for Washington to bounce back strongly after a tough loss to Oregon last week. I am picking UW to win for the third year in a row via the foot of Erik Folk as the clock ticks down to zero....UW 38 USC 35.