As the 4-4 unranked USC Trojans head to beautiful Seattle and take on their fellow 4-4 unranked Huskies of Washington in a battle of the two most decorated programs from the heritage PAC-12, a feeling of anxiety is in the air. For the Trojans, year three of “Project Mecca” seemingly has yet to get out of the blueprint phase while the inaugural campaign of the Jedd Fisch era is in danger of missing out on bowl eligibility with matchups against Oregon and Penn State still looming.
While an unranked tussle with a Huskies team that lost several key playmakers to last year’s national finalist, including their cerebral coach and star quarterback, may seem like a reprieve on paper, here are three reasons why Trojan antennas need to be on max alert Saturday evening.
USC Trojans-Washinton Huskies Preview
On The Road Again with a Familiar Type of Foe
Given the season-opening LSU victory was on a neutral site at Allegiant Stadium, the Trojans are 0-3 in pure road games this season. Washington is not only an extremely difficult place to play given the variability of weather, the dynamism of wind, and the raucousness of the crowd, but the Huskies very much stylistically resemble the Michigan and Minnesota teams that gave the Trojans unrelenting fits.
Washington enters the contest 10th in the country in yards per play allowed at only 4.4, while also checking in at 6th nationally in yards per game allowed at only 274.7. The physicality and gap discipline of the Huskies’ defense should keep them within striking distance going into the second half while forcing Miller Moss and the Trojans to be consistently methodical and precise with their offensive execution – something Moss has yet to show on the road with critical game altering interceptions in each contest. Furthermore, a close game late will also test the mettle of an offensive line that has consistently relinquished line-of-scrimmage integrity in critical moments that have often led to those aforementioned momentous picks.
D’Anton Lynn’s Kryptonite
We have repeatedly discussed how the nearly 230-pound running backs have a successful history of wearing down D’Anton Lynn schemes in the second half of games. Lynn’s unit was susceptible to that punishment twice last year at UCLA, with Damien Martinez of Oregon State and Jonah Coleman of Arizona, and yet again twice this year at the hands of Michigan’s Kalel Mullings and Minnesota’s Darius Taylor. Well, enter Coleman again, as the 5’9, 229-pound running back from Stockton, California transferred from Arizona to Washington in the offseason. Coleman leads the Huskies with 785 yards rushing and five touchdowns on 6.7 yards per carry.
Furthermore, Washington’s incentive to keep feeding Coleman the ball in the second half should be at an all-time high this season given that the Huskies are 25th in yards per play gained but only 101st in scoring offense. This suggests an inability to close out drives in the red zone, which was evident in their losses to Rutgers and Washington State earlier this season.
They missed three field goals against the former and were stopped on 4th & Goal from the goal line on the game’s final offensive play versus the latter. In Lincoln Riley’s terms, UW was two plays away from being 6-2 and will look to keep pounding the rock with Coleman – to finish scoring drives while simultaneously attempting to finish off USC as Michigan, Minnesota, and Maryland all did.
Challenging The Secondary
Washington is quite possibly the most talented receiving room the Trojans will face all year. Their dynamic duo on the outside consists of senior Giles Jackson with his 49 receptions for 553 yards and two touchdowns to go with sophomore Denzel Boston and his 44 grabs for 583 yards and a whopping team-leading nine scores.
The explosive Jackson-Boston combination will face a secondary still recovering from injury as Kamari Ramsey, Jaylin Smith, Jacobe Covington, and Greedy Vance Jr. are all banged up to certain degrees. Couple that with Washington quarterback Will Rodgers’ 72.3 completion percentage and USC won’t be the beneficiary of unforced incomplete passes as they were last week at home against Rutgers. While the Trojans are 2.5-point road favorites, don’t let the point spread fool you, this has all
the makings of a 60-minute dogfight and a Trojan victory would be the first step toward true progress.
