This is the state of Troy in 2015. USC played its first-ever night game at the Coliseum against Washington in 1944.
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The Trojans uninspired play, coupled with Sarkisian’s drunken, profanity-laced speech at a preseason booster event, led to him being asked, fairly, if he felt he was coaching for his job. USC’s defense ranks 56th nationally in yards per play allowed at 5.2.
Sarkisian said the game “doesn’t mean more,” but added “the memories kick up a little bit”. “This one at the end of the day is on me”. We’ll find out soon enough. We didn’t execute like we should have.
Over the past several years, Lane Kiffin defined a similar expression: “failing upward”. Who could have seen that coming?
Pat Haden – a Rhodes Scholar – felt that hiring yet another Pete Carroll assistant without any significant head coaching accomplishments was the right response to a coaching vacancy. The Huskies all celebrated with their strong cheering section after running out the clock on Washington’s first win at the Coliseum since 2010.
LOCAL HUSKIES: As usual, Washington’s starting lineup is dotted with players recruited out of the Los Angeles area – much of it by Sarkisian’s staff, which worked heavily in the talent-rich Southland.
All those angry fans at the Coliseum would agree.
“We’re going to make mistakes because we are so young, but if they play hard, our defense tackles, (USC) is really explosive”, Washington coach Chris Petersen told ESPN.
On Thursday, they were doubly sure of it. Right now, at least four of those games – if not all five – look like losses.
Nearly every Washington upperclassman demanded they took no individual delight in beating the mentor who left them for USC two years prior. However, the Huskies employed a bend-but-don’t-break defensive approach.
For one half, this game was all about defense and offensive ineptitude. The Trojans did run 39 times for 190 yards (120 by Tre Madden), but the play selection was haphazard, with the offense appearing to move away from the run game at inopportune times. Instead, USC couldn’t score a touchdown until Ronald Jones II’s short run with 12:02 to play. The points total for the game is set at 57-1/2 points for over/under bettors. Following the USC game, the Huskies will return home for its annual border battle against Oregon, October 17 at Husky Stadium.
Despite losing to Stanford last month, USC is still very much in the playoff picture with just one loss. “When you have an opportunity to seize a moment and gain momentum and when you don’t do it that’s frustrating to me”. USC had strong interest in Kelly when it hired Sarkisian.
Azeem Victor is the most dynamic defensive player for the Huskies. The Huskies are playing their first road game since September 4, 33 days ago….
Then there’s the whole Steve Sarkisian thing.
The longest streak either way in the series began in 1965, when the Trojans beat Washington for the first time of 10 straight wins.
That end result was an infamous early-morning firing at LAX. That’s on top of the skepticism about his ability as a head coach since he was hired.
It was one of the few assertive answers to emerge out of the locker room Thursday night, but at this point, he is being quite wishful.
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Ohio State has had plenty of difficulties this season.
