FOOTBALL

Morning Buzz: My USC-Washington Pick

As Arizona State showed last night at Cal, the Pac-12 is great at cannibalizing itself. It’s to the point where you can’t really count anyone out in a conference game.

With USC-Washington, there are the obvious factors like Talanoa Hufanga being out and the home-field advantage of Husky Stadium.

But to me the key will be how USC fares against Washington’s defense, especially when the Huskies drop eight men back. USC didn’t handle BYU’s similar scheme too well and the Huskies are better at it.

I like the leadership Matt Fink showed last week. I just wonder about his decision making at times, especially in a hostile environment. He’s going to throw some deep balls but I doubt Washington’s secondary will be as inept as Utah. But hey, you never know in the Pac-12. Anything is possible with Michael Pittman grabbing jump balls.

You can also make the case Washington’s Jacob Eason is the best QB USC has faced this season. Drake Jackson will need a big game applying pressure.

This should be a fairly close game, unless Clay Helton gets involved and Graham Harrell tries to get cute like he did at BYU. Chris Petersen laid an egg in 2016 when USC upset the Huskies, 26-13.

I don’t think he will make the same mistake twice. So I’m taking Washington, 31-23.

36 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: My USC-Washington Pick”

      2. What do they do sitting their watching? Just, yell something like, “Yay Huskies!”? Wow, that’s deep…

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  2. You’ll know if Gomer sticks his nose in the play calling, Fink will stand there like a deer in the headlights and the fans will get louder and louder and louder. I wonder if Gomer knows that Husky Stadium is the loudest place they’ll play, probably not. And if the place gets rocking, look for Gomer to waste his timeouts like never before, he’ll pucker up worse than the players.

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    1. Scottie says:

      “Chris Petersen laid an egg in 2016 when USC upset the Huskies, 26-13.”

      Jesus, what BS from Scottie.

      What happened in that game was Porter Gustin, Adoree Jackson, Nwosu, Cam Smith et. al. made life miserable for Browning. The Washington O-line couldn’t handle the pressure. Browing threw at least 2 picks, Adoree had two himself.

      At the end of the ’16 season, Vegas bookies on the Mason – Ireland show were saying that SC was the second best team in the country, and that only ‘Bama would be favored against SC on a neutral field.

      It was not Petersen laying an egg. His team was not as good as SC.

      Scottie, sometimes, every once is a while, the better team wins. And despite Helton’s many shortcomings, the ’16 Trojan team was really good at the end of that season. (Pendergast’s D against Penn State is a whole other story).

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      1. Good stuff ‘67…thanks.

        Look for the same formula..we need to pressure their qb and get him to move his feet, get him looking at the rush and not the coverage.

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      2. Pudly, thanks, and exactly right regarding pressure.

        Rector is good to go? He and Jackson will be a formidable defensive front.

        LBs will need to step up. Fingers crossed this is the game that Palaie breaks out.

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      3. Yeah, that’s the impression I got, but how “good to go” and how long he lasts are my questions this morning. Like to see some more pressure from up the middle too.

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      4. Hey ’67, as long as you’re shooting your stupid, elephantine mouth off, kindly recount the 2016 season Alabama (Zero bozo TD’s), Stanford and Utah choka, choka, choka defeats for the blog.

        Can’t wait for your excuses, excuses, excuses, excuses that explain these ugly losses.

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  5. I’m hoping that the Trojans get lucky and petersen does what he did before…

    Trojans by 4….31-27. Fink and the defense rise to the occasion and the team flips scottie the bird.

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  6. Lets hope Matt Fink has his running shoes on today. He’s going to need them for first downs so if they try play 8 men back on defense. Go Trojans Fight on ! 31-30 USC for the hard fought victory!

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  8. The match up will be Tyler Vaughn’s and Myles Bryant of Washington. They have been going at it since little league, then high school with Bryant going to Loyola and Vaughn’s going to Amat, and now college. They have been going against each other since 2004

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  10. ESPN ranked the top ten college football teams of all time…USC finished 2nd and 3rd all time….Mike Rae’s 1972 team #3 ALL TIME LOL! …..I love that!

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  11. The conference is aimless and confused because it lacks and needs its leader. The Pac 12 won’t have credibility until USC is representing it, and I think it’s a great day to plant the flag in Seattle. This is the kind of game that USC wins when it gets on a roll and is ready to make one of those runs. This is the kind of September game USC wins when it has plans for January, and this is a game the entire conference needs USC to win. (I hope the refs understand this because they can’t get hired anywhere else…damn it)

    All the Trojans have to do is show their class because they ARE the class of the conference. The Huskies haven’t felt this kind of talent in their lives and it’s going to be a rude awakening for them, just like It was a rude awakening for Utah last week. This is the deepest, most talented and strong-willed teams that USC has had in years. They are proud, confident, tough and I know +10 is not just crazy, it’s a fucking insult. These guys are beautiful and with that talent, the gold in the uniform, and under those cloudy Seattle skies…they are sunflowers. Just bloom, baby…

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    1. Interesting about talent…who has the most 4/5* players? Hmmm I wonder…

      Check the thread below to find out, and it’s not what the trolls tell you (including scottie).

      Hahahahaha

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    2. Clay —
      A lot of people underestimate the significance of the ref(s) in boxing or football—when, in truth, they completely control the result. Last week Owns moaned when I called out the refs for letting Utah get away with a hold on their first touchdown —- but, luckily, they started calling them after that —-and it helped USC win the game. If this game is called fairly, USC will win. If Washington is allowed to get away with the stuff Utah failed to get away with last week, USC loses.

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