By Karrington Kincaid Posted on

Washington Huskies looking to extend winning streak over USC Trojans

The University of Washington Huskies (3-1, 0-1 BIG 10) go on the road for the first time to take on the University of Southern California Trojans (4-1, 1-1 BIG 10). This is the 89th overall meeting between the former Pac-12 foes and their second BIG Ten encounter. Both teams are coming off conference losses: the Huskies lost to Minnesota 27-24, and the Trojans were manhandled by Oregon 41-27. 

The Trojans enter the game ranked No. 18th in both the USA Today Coaches Poll and AP Top 25, while the Huskies received early-season votes from the Coaches Poll but are now unranked. Despite their disappointing start to the season, the Huskies have won the last three games against the Trojans.

Finishing plays on defense

Through the first three weeks, the Huskies have predicated their success on playing great defense . That stellar defense helped the Huskies get off to a fast start. In the season opener against cross-rivals Washington State, the Husky defense did not allow a third-down conversion. The Cougars were 0-11 on third-down conversions. The last time the Husky held an opponent to 0-11 on third down was during the team’s memorable 16-13 win over a Peter Carroll-led team in 2009. In that game, the Trojans were 0-13 on third down

If the Huskies are to continue their winning streak against the Trojans, they will need to finish plays on defense. In last week’s loss to the Golden Gophers, the Husky defense allowed a season-high 21 points. The defense gave up a season-high 329 total yards; 125 were on the ground, and 204 were in the passing game. Defensive Coordinator Ryan Walters addressed the team’s lack of discipline.

“Some of the issues were not being on the right leverage side,” said Walters . “It’s harder to make those type of plays against a physical back, when we’re not in a great position.”

“There’s too many time where we’ll run into contact instead of wrapping up or leading our feet on contact,” added Walters. “All those things we teach while tackling, we’ll clean it up, I’ve seen us tackle better and I’ve seen us play better hopefully it’s not an issue moving forward.”

TURNOVER

Through the first three games of the season, the Huskies have been stellar at forcing turnovers and getting pressure. The defense recorded seven total turnovers (5 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries). They’ve also recorded six sacks, which helped fuel the 3-game win streak despite offensive struggles.

In the loss to Minnesota, the Husky defense recorded one interception and zero sacks. Head coach Jedd Fisch stressed that the defense needs to create turnovers.

“We’ve got to play the ball exceptionally well, said Fisch” We’re not going to go in there and play scared and just keep everything in front of us… play something like bend but don’t break defense we’re gonna play the ball and be physical at the point of attack when the ball is in the air.”

Reducing explosive plays from USC

Through the first five games, the USC Trojans offense has been explosive under Offensive Coordinator Luke Huard’s “Power Raid” scheme. The Trojans offense is ranked 8th nationally in total offense with 39.9 points per game

The Trojans offense is led by quarterback Jayden Maiava who has passed for 1,219 yards with 12 touchdowns and one interception. Maiava has completed 75.7% of his passes. His main targets are receivers true freshman Trent Mosley, who has 13 receptions for 255 yards and 4 touchdowns, averaging 19.6 yards a catch, and freshman Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, who has 25 receptions for 355 yards and 3 touchdowns and averaging 14.9 yards a catch. 

“Obviously they are certainly one of the most explosive teams out there they have incredible speed and they have incredible talent,” said Fisch. “they’ve done a great job of acquiring talent over the course of the last few years, I think they have the no. 1 position class in the country.”

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