UW fiddles around; Troy on
fire
Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles. Using a paralyzing
ground attack, a trick play and two long touchdown runs, the 18th-ranked
USC Trojans hammered the Washington Huskies, 40-17, in front of 64,756 spectators.
|
Photo courtesy of Lynn Borland |
In his article this morning,
Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times wrote, "Washington
defeated USC on last-second field goals in 2009 and 2010
and was hoping the third time would also be a charm."
Condotta might have mentioned that
former Washington QB Jake Locker accounted for 420
yards of offense in the 2010 game. |
And in his 2009 loss, former
USC coach Pete Carroll said, "The difference was
Jake...that's a great player."
This is not meant
to be a criticism of Locker's heir
apparent, Keith Price, who played
reasonably well, completing 12 of 16
passes for 125 yards, with a passing
efficiency rating of 140.62. He left the
game in the second half due to a
recurring knee injury, but is expected
to play against Oregon State on
Saturday.
After Nick Montana
threw the touchdown pass, the look of
elation on his parents' faces made
watching the broadcast to the bitter end
palpable.
A master of the
obvious, head coach Steve Sarkisian
was quoted as saying, "I think there
were some issues up front. The
fundamentals of the game (blocking and
tackling) are what we need to get back to
so that we can match our execution with
our want-to."
For the Huskies it was an afternoon of too-muchness:
too many sacks allowed, too many yards given up, too many penalties
committed, too many points
surrendered and too many three-and-outs posted.
Giving up 7 sacks, Washington (6-4, 4-3 Pac-12)
now ranks 102nd in the FBS in sacks allowed -- that's 13 sacks in
the last two games.
UW ranks 93rd in total defense (104th in pass
defense) and 102nd in scoring defense.
The men of Troy accumulated 426 yards of total
offense, 252 yards via the ground and 174 through the air, while
limiting the Dawgs to 46 yards rushing and 198 yards passing.
RB Chris Polk gained 36 yards on 9 carries.
Between them, the Huskies' exciting true-freshmen duo, Austin Seferian-Jenkins
and Kasen Williams, caught 9 passes for 92 yards.
Neither team committed a turnover.
A trick play sealed the Huskies' fate. Leading 7-3
midway through the second quarter, USC lined up to punt from its 45.
Faking a punt, Kyle Negrete ran for 35 yards, setting up another USC
touchdown -- in this case, opening the flood gates.
With a 23-7 lead, Marqise Lee of the Trojans
returned the opening kickoff in the second half for an 88-yard touchdown
run and an insurmountable 30-7 lead, insurmountable considering the
pathetic way the Dawgs were playing.
With 12:45 to go in the third quarter, Curtis
McNeal made it 37-10 on an 79-yard touchdown run.
So far this season, Washington hasn't been able to
stop the run against ranked teams (four of them), let alone win the
game, being woefully outrushed by Nebraska, Stanford, Oregon and Troy.
The solution?
For starters, the Huskies will begin to compete with the big
boys, as in the top 25, when defensive coordinator Nick
Holt begins to think "SEC front four" -- or, say, a
Haloti Ngata --
when out on the recruiting trail and settles for
nothing less. See Table 1 below.
For Price's passing efficiency rating see Table 2.
Table 1. In its six victories,
Washington has held its six opponents to an average of 51.5 yards per
game on the ground, which would rank first in the FBS if those six games
were all Washington had played. In its four losses, UW has allowed
304.75 rushing yards per game. In its ten games, UW ranks 61st in
the FBS in rushing defense (7th in the Pac-12), yielding 152.8 yards
per game. This table seems to say stop the run and win the game.
|
School |
W/L |
Rush |
UW
Rush |
|
Eastern
Washington |
W |
31
yards |
148
yards |
|
Hawaii |
W |
55 |
151 |
|
Nebraska |
L |
309 |
146 |
|
California |
W |
108 |
117 |
|
Utah |
W |
17 |
185 |
|
Colorado |
W |
62 |
295 |
|
Stanford |
L |
446 |
172 |
|
Arizona |
W |
36 |
179 |
|
Oregon |
L |
212 |
82 |
|
USC |
L |
252 |
46 |
Table 2. Keith Price's cumulative passing efficiency.
| Team |
C |
A |
Y |
T |
I |
PE |
C |
A |
Y |
T |
I |
PE |
| EWU |
17 |
25 |
102 |
3 |
0 |
149.87 |
17 |
25 |
102 |
3 |
0 |
149.87 |
| Hawai'i |
18 |
25 |
315 |
4 |
1 |
222.64 |
35 |
50 |
417 |
7 |
1 |
182.26 |
| Nebraska |
21 |
37 |
274 |
4 |
2 |
143.83 |
56 |
87 |
691 |
11 |
3 |
165.91 |
| California |
19 |
25 |
292 |
3 |
0 |
213.71 |
75 |
112 |
983 |
14 |
3 |
176.58 |
| Utah |
22 |
30 |
226 |
3 |
1 |
162.95 |
97 |
142 |
1209 |
17 |
4 |
173.70 |
| Colorado |
21 |
28 |
257 |
4 |
0 |
199.24 |
118 |
170 |
1466 |
21 |
4 |
177.91 |
| Stanford |
23 |
36 |
247 |
1 |
1 |
125.13 |
141 |
206 |
1713 |
22 |
5 |
168.69 |
| Arizona |
16 |
30 |
277 |
1 |
3 |
121.89 |
157 |
236 |
1990 |
23 |
8 |
162.74 |
| Oregon |
24 |
35 |
143 |
2 |
2 |
110.32 |
181 |
271 |
2133 |
25 |
10 |
155.97 |
| USC |
12 |
16 |
125 |
0 |
0 |
140.62 |
193 |
287 |
2258 |
25 |
10 |
155.11 |
| Team |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Total |
| Washington |
0 |
3 |
7 |
7 |
17 |
| USC |
7 |
16 |
14 |
3 |
40 |
| Time |
Team |
How |
Player
(s) |
UW |
USC |
| 1st qtr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
USC |
TD |
Matt Barkley 1 yd run (Andre Heidari kick) |
0 |
7 |
|
2nd qtr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
5:24 |
UW |
FG |
Erik Folk 46 yd FG |
3 |
7 |
|
6:58 |
USC |
TD |
Marc Tyler 1 yd run (Andre Heidari kick) |
3 |
14 |
|
5:53 |
USC |
SF |
Devon Kennard safety |
3 |
16 |
|
2:44 |
USC |
|
Marqise Lee 9 yd pass from Matt Barkley (Andre
Heidari kick) |
3 |
23 |
|
3rd qtr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14:45 |
USC |
TD |
Marqise Lee 88 yd kick return (Andre Heidari
kick |
3 |
30 |
|
13:36 |
UW |
TD |
Chris Polk 1 yd run (Erik Folk kick) |
10 |
30 |
|
12:45 |
USC |
TD |
Curtis McNeal 79 yd run (Andre Heidari kick) |
10 |
37 |
|
4th qtr |
|
|
|
|
|
|
14:57 |
USC |
TD |
Andre Heidari 30 yd FG |
10 |
40 |
|
0:13 |
UW |
TD |
Kasen Williams 20 yd pass from Nick Montana
(Erik Folk kick) |
17 |
40 |
|
Statistics |
UW |
USC |
| Total
First Downs |
13 |
21 |
|
Rushing |
4 |
10 |
|
Passing |
8 |
7 |
|
Penalty |
1 |
4 |
| Total
Net Yards |
244 |
426 |
| Net
Yards Passing |
198 |
174 |
| Net
Yards Rushing |
46 |
252 |
|
Completions-att-int |
21-31-0 |
18-28-0 |
| Punts,
yards, average |
8-418; 52.2 |
5-212; 42.4 |
| Sacks by (number, yards) |
1-8 |
7-35 |
| Kickoff Returns:
number, yds, tds |
7-176-0 |
2-127-1 |
| Punt
returns: number, yds, tds |
2-10-0 |
3-32-0 |
| Kickoff Yards |
4-248 |
7-470 |
| Net Yards per
kickoff |
25.2 |
42.0 |
| Average yards per
kickoff |
62.0 |
67.1 |
| Touchbacks
(kickoffs) |
1 |
0 |
| Third-down
conversions |
2 of 13 |
7 of 15 |
|
Interception returns: no., yds, tds |
0-0-0 |
0-0-0 |
|
Penalties, no., Yards |
12-91 |
11-78 |
| Fumbles;
number/lost |
1-0 |
0-0 |
| Time of
Possession |
25:45 |
34:15 |
|
Passing |
cmp |
att |
yds |
tds |
int |
| Matt Barkley;
128.27 |
18 |
28 |
174 |
1 |
0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Washington |
|
|
|
|
|
| Keith Price;
140.62 |
12 |
16 |
125 |
0 |
0 |
| Nick Montana;
122.88 |
9 |
15 |
73 |
1 |
0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| USC
Rushing |
No. |
Net |
TD |
Lg |
Avg. |
| Curtis McNeal |
18 |
148 |
1 |
79 |
8.2 |
| Marc Tyler |
7 |
50 |
1 |
24 |
7.1 |
| Kyle Negrete |
1 |
35 |
0 |
35 |
45.0 |
| Amir Carlisle |
7 |
14 |
0 |
9 |
2.0 |
| Robert Woods |
1 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
4.0 |
| D. J. Morgan |
2 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
2.0 |
| Matt Barkley |
4 |
-3 |
1 |
3 |
-0.8 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Washington Rushing |
No. |
yds |
tds |
long |
avg. |
| Chris Polk |
9 |
36 |
1 |
12 |
4.0 |
| Jessie Callier |
2 |
12 |
0 |
11 |
6.0 |
| Devin Aguilar |
1 |
-2 |
0 |
0 |
-2.0 |
| Keith Price |
5 |
-16 |
0 |
5 |
-3.2 |
| Bishop Sankey |
4 |
22 |
0 |
17 |
5.5 |
| Kevin Smith |
1 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
6.0 |
| Nick Montana |
5 |
-12 |
0 |
0 |
-6.0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Trojans Pass Receiving |
No. |
yds |
tds |
long |
|
| Marqise Lee |
9 |
74 |
1 |
15 |
|
|
Randall Telfer |
4 |
43 |
0 |
21 |
|
|
Robert Woods |
2 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
|
| Brice Butler |
1 |
36 |
0 |
36 |
|
| Marc Tyler |
1 |
15 |
0 |
15 |
|
| Amir Carlisle |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Washington Pass Rec. |
No. |
yds |
tds |
long |
|
| Bishop Sankey |
4 |
13 |
0 |
6 |
|
| Jesse Callier |
1 |
9 |
0 |
9 |
|
| Kasen Williams |
5 |
44 |
1 |
20 |
|
| Chris Polk |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
| Austin
Seferian-Jenkins |
4 |
48 |
0 |
22 |
|
| Jermaine Kearse |
2 |
10 |
0 |
6 |
|
| Devin Aguilar |
1 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
|
| Mike Hartvigson |
2 |
16 |
0 |
10 |
|
| Kevin Smith |
1 |
53 |
0 |
53 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Punting |
|
|
|
|
|
| USC |
No. |
yds |
avg |
long |
IN20 |
| Kyle Negete |
5 |
212 |
42.4 |
53 |
0 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Washington |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| Kiel Rasp |
8 |
418 |
52.2 |
62 |
1 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Attendance:
64,756 |
|
|
|
|
|
Richard Linde, aka Malamute can be reached at
malamute@4malamute.com
