Trojans head north to face the Huskies

Up next for Southern Cal is a reunion of sorts with former offensive coordinator and now head coach of the Washington Huskies, Steve Sarkisian. The Trojans head to Washington to take on their former offensive coach and will be seeking to pick up where they left off after last year's 56-0 shellacking of the Huskies.

Washington is on a one-game upswing after defeating Idaho 42-23 and, more importantly, ending an ugly streak of fifteen consecutive losses that spanned two seasons. To their credit, the Huskies look like an entirely different team now that Steve Sarkisian has taken the helm; and, if fortunes continue, will continue to rise from the bottom of the Pac-10 rankings.

Head coach Pete Carroll seems to be relishing the opportunity to go up against his former coordinator and had this to say during a recent Carroll-Sarkisian press conference:

“As far as the relationship going into this game, there's nothing I've liked more than playing against people that I really love, and friends and people that I've worked with. For whatever sordid reason that is, I don't know. I can't explain it, but it's fun to go against our guys. It will be fun to match up with a program that is similar to ours.”

The Huskies have looked fairly solid after being the whipping boy of the Pac-10 for the last few College football seasons. Riding on the back of talented quarterback, Jake Locker, Washington made an LSU team really work for a victory in the first game of the season and followed it up by shaking the monkey off of their backs with the victory over Idaho. Against the Vandals, Locker through for 253 yards on 17-25 passes, including three touchdowns through the air. The Trojans will be counting on their defense to pull out all the stops when it comes to corralling the talented Locker.

Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian does not believe that there will be much of an advantage resulting from his working on Pete Carroll's staff for the previous seven years. Steve had this to say on the matter:

“If we start looking too far into this thing and trying to mind read and looking three, four steps down the road, we can get ourselves in trouble. I don't know who has the advantage that way, I just know we're not looking too far into it."

The Trojans are coming off of a gritty and impressive victory at Ohio State. The fact that USC was able to go into Buckeye country and pull off a victory is one thing; but, coupled with the fact that the Trojans did it with a true freshman quarterback, Matt “Golden Boy” Barkley, makes the win even that much more impressive.

After pulling off a late fourth quarter drive with the help of stellar tailback, Joe McKnight, the young Barkley has made a believer out of many who doubted him at the start of the season.

Unfortunately, chances are Barkley will not be taking the field in the game against the Huskies this Saturday after sustaining a bruise to his throwing shoulder in the game against the Buckeyes. After being slammed to the ground by a pair of Ohio State defenders, Barkley returned to the sideline favoring the shoulder, but would later return to the game and lead Southern Cal to victory.

Fortunately for the Trojans, they should not skip a beat with Barkley out, as redshirt sophomore Aaron Corp is ready to slide into the starting spot for USC. As many will recall, Corp lost the starting job at quarterback to the young and talented Barkley after breaking his fibula in the middle of Fall Camp.

Coach Carroll, for one, is putting Corp on notice:

“I got after Aaron. I looked over my shoulder, and he was watching. Then said to him again, come on, heat it up. It may be time to go. So that's what took place there.”

Matt Barkley is not the only question mark for USC as they head north to face Washington. Two time All-American, Taylor Mays, the starting safety for the Trojans, suffered a sprained knee after one of his teammates fell into him during the Ohio State game. Mays has not practiced all week and was recently fitted for a brace on the knee. However, he has been telling people around him that he will be ready to go against the Huskies this Saturday.

Examiner prediction:
Look for the Trojans to go heavy on the run game early on against the Huskies. With the talent they possess at tailback, USC has the means to force other teams into trying to stop the Trojans’ running attack and, if all goes well, we might be seeing another spectacular ground performance from the three-headed Gable-McKnight-Johnson monster. I like the Trojans in this one, 38-17.

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