Washington has a history of playing its best game of the season against USC. It doesn't seem to matter what shpae the team is in the Huskies usually show well against the Trojans. Willingham has not beaten USc since he has been at Washington but the game has gone down to the last two ticks of the clock the last two previous seasons. Even in 2004, and 2005 the team played well against the Trojans.
What does that mean in 2008?
Absolutely nothing because we don't have a Jake Locker or Isiah Stanback starting at QB. Both of those guys brought the added dimension of being able to run for 100 yards against anyone and that factor always keeps defenses off balance. Notre Dame exposed Ronnie fouch last week. While he is a promising young player he doesn't have the ability to place the entire team on his shoulders. All you have to do to stifle Washingon is blitz most of the night.
If Fouch doesn't have time he can't get the ball to his receivers it throws the entire offense off from a timing perspective. That lack of timing contributed to the dropped balls last week. You can expect one of the nations top defense to keep the Huskies below 100 yards in total offense this Saturday.
This one isn't going to be pretty because USC needs all the style points it can get to get back into the BCS championship race. the Trojans need 50 or more points to keep the attention of the pollsters after the close one with Arizona last week.
Priority number one for Washington going into this game should be basic survival. UW needs to stay healthy because ASU, UCLA, and WSU are still winnable football games. UW needs to do everything they can to keep Ronnie fouch healthy. If he goes down with an injury walk on Taylor Bean would take over four the last four games,,,,yikes!
How do you beat USC?
It all starts with defense. Oregon State and Arizona can provide a good blueprint on how to slow down the Trojan offense. If you can keep it close you can win if the Trojans make mistakes. The Beavers feasted on Trojan mistakes and used the short field to their advantage.
Washington has one of the worst defenses in the country and the offense has been in a death spiral ever since Jake was injured. I really don't see any scenario where Washington comes up with an upset over USC. The best scenario for Washington is to keep the QB healthy and try to escape the Coliseum without any serious injuries.