If the season ended today the Pac-12 championship would be Washington vs USC in Las Vegas. But this week the two teams will meet in the Collesium. After the first playoff ranking came out on Halloween, the Huskies where the only undefeated left out of the CFP picture.
This game was originally slated to be a game that would shape the college football landscape this season, but with USC’s struggles this game is now more a test for the Huskies.
Trojan Horse: After the win against Stanford Michael Penix is back atop the Heisman leader board. The FBS leader in passing yards will be facing the leader in touchdowns in Caleb Williams. With no Jalen McMillan today Penix will be down a weapon. He will need to have a big day if the Huskies end up in a shootout with a Trojans team that we know can score.
Ja’Lynn Polk has been the man that has come up big for Penix as he is taking a big chunk of the production. Polk has had 100+ yards in all but 2 games this season, both of those where the Huskies looked surprisingly human. Of course Polk isn’t the only target as Rome Odunze is a projected first round pick and there is a laundry list of NFL players catching passes.
Penix has done his part in finding these guys and has thrown for 300 or more yards in Avery game except for one. The Heisman favorite will get his opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the NFL‘s star child. And hopefully come out on top.
Slowing Down the QB1: The Huskies defense is going to have their work cut out. Lincoln Riley is widely regarded as one of the best offensive minds of the generation. And Caleb Williams is called by many the best QB prospect. The only thing that keeps him from being a top-5 pick is if he decides to stay in college.
Bralen Trice is coming off of one of his best games of the season. 16 pressures was the season high from any player in the fbs this year, but to truly impact Caleb the pass rush will need to be more well rounded.
If the pressure shows up then that will take a huge load off of the secondary. The group has had their hands full in almost every game this year and have shown capable of rising to that challenge. This is a very good USC team in all offensive facets. Edefuan Ulufoshio is a player that will need to come up big in both the run and pass defense.
Execution: The Huskies have been one of the most penalized teams in college football this season. With 645 yards total. A team like USC will take advantage of those opportunities. If the defense is costing itself stops the game could get very ugly for them.
If the USC offense is scoring like they can then the Huskies cannot afford to force themselves off the field with dumb penalties. In games against good teams penalties make a difference. UW has been lucky enough to be the more talented team in most of their matchups so far so the penalties haven’t cost them a game. The same goes for the turnovers.
They are just ugly. Bad turnovers in the red zone are quite literally leaving points on the board. In a game against a ranked USC, a game that has been cocked on the calendar since last season, expect things to clean up.
Creating Pressure: That should be a big theme for the Huskies today. On the road in Los Angeles the environment is going to be against them. This is USC’s biggest game if the year and they are in desperate need of a big win.
The purple and gold will need to create some of their own energy if they want to level the playing field. While big plays on offense will do that, an early interception or rattling Williams could shell shock the Trojans. If the Huskies knock the offense out of the game, even just for a series or two it could get bad.
The more the ball is being hurried around the more opportunity there is for Jabbar Muhammad and Co. to get a takeaway and create more and more chaos. Again, the keys to this are with Michael Penix, and the Washington defensive line.
Achilles Heel: Lincoln Riley built a name on scoring points. But he also has a habit of letting them up. This USC defense has been, in lack of a better word, bad.
Cal put up almost 50 last week, and every USC opponent has seemed to do the same. The Huskies are easily the most talented offense the Trojans have seen this year. They cannot give USC any sign of life. Scoring early and scoring often should be a theme of the Husky game plan. Make USC’a defense make a play and things should be good.
Allow them to stay in it and you’ve lost your biggest advantage. With Penix, Johnson, Rome, and Polk all looking great expect the visitors to put up a lot of points on the Coliseum scoreboard. Offense will be the name of this game, with lots of points going up. It’s time for the Huskies to remind America what the most explosive offense in the nation really looks like.
