Five Reasons Why the USC Trojans Won’t Horse Around with the Washington Huskies

For USC Trojan fans, it sticks in the craw.

September 25, 2008—Oregon State’s 27-21 over USC in Corvallis, Oregon.

USC’s last misadventure down the road of missed opportunities came the week following the Trojans domination of the Ohio State.

This week the Trojans travel to Washington to play Steve Sarkisian’s Huskies, who finally won a game last week. By all accounts, they seem to be on the road to recovery.

Will the Trojans follow their nasty habit of losing games they shouldn’t by overlooking the Huskies?

No.

And here is why:

1.) Washington isn’t as good as Oregon State

Lets forget for the moment that USC is quite possibly the most talented college football team in America.

Last year, the Trojans looked past what turned out to be a pretty damn good Oregon State football team and paid the price. The Beavers went 9-4 in 2008 and won the Sun Bowl.

Meanwhile, the Huskies won their first game since 2007 over a vastly inferior Idaho team.

In terms of their opponent’s talent, this is definitely a case of apples and oranges.

2.) Revenge Factor

Although Steve Sarkisian and Pete Carroll continue to be friends, this is not the case with Carroll and Nick Holt, USC’s former defensive coordinator who left the Trojans to join Sarkisian’s staff along with Demetrius Wright, another USC assistant in 2008.

Carroll has made no secret of his irritation over Holt’s departure and the way it went down.

Expect Pete Carroll to take his anger out on Holt’s Huskies defense and don’t look for any post game handshakes between the two.

3.) Trojan Team Focus

The Trojans have had three straight years of having to answer why they lost to inferior teams thus costing them shots at playing in the national championship game.

UCLA in 2006, Stanford in 2007 and Oregon State in 2008.

All teams the Trojans should have beat.

Don’t think for a moment that players like Jeff Byers and Taylor Mays won’t be in their teammates ears all week reminding them of what is at stake?

Of course they will.

4.) Matt Barkley

When Pete Carroll said that both Matt Barkley and Taylor Mays would practice and play this week against the Huskies, it signaled that Carroll wasn’t interested in just getting through this weekend’s game.

USC’s precocious 19-year-old quarterback is a blend of youthful exuberance and extreme talent.

But Barkley is also a historian of Trojan football and he knows both that USC lost a game following their Ohio State victory and the importance of not allowing this to happen again.

Look for Matt Barkley to have a big game against the Huskies.

5.) Pete Carroll

Pete Carroll has heard it all.

Ad nauseum.

How the Trojans have blown so many opportunities over the years by “losing that one game they shouldn’t have.”

And he is pissed.

Pete Carroll is imminently aware that the Trojans must be focused every week.

Although USC has a difficult road schedule in 2008, one in which it is possible that they might lose a game in South Bend or Berkley (although highly unlikely), it won’t be because they overlooked their opponent.

Conclusion

The horrors of missed opportunities from past years will not follow the Trojans in 2009.

For too many years USC has had to field questions as to why they underachieved by losing to teams they just shouldn’t have lost to.

This isn’t to say that the Trojans are bullet proof and won’t lose a game this year because, given the rigorous schedule, anything is possible.

But if the Trojans do lose a game, it won’t be because they overlooked their opponent.

And it won’t happen this weekend in Seattle.