The return of the Trojans and their hated song. I wish somebody would lob a few footballs into their band to shut them up. One can only dream I guess.

This is a good match up between these two teams. I still feel U$C is one of the better teams in the Pac-10 and here's why. They have an excellent defense that is playing well already. They have lost a few games, but those losses were close and to excellent teams. Let's look at the numbers shall we?

One win in a warm-up aganst SJSU. Let's not figure that one since it was their 1st game with a new coach.

They then faced Kansas State, a very good team by anybody's standards. They held KSU to 10 points. This is a team that scored 64 against New Mexico State, an admittedly bad team. But wait. They lost to Oklahoma, the defending champs, by 1 points, and put 37 points up.

Vs. Oregon, and I watched most of this game, they could have won it by getting a first down. Apparently Coach Carroll has never seen the Ducks at home with a minute left down by 2, but if it were me I'd have thrown at least one ball for a 1st down and put the game away. Two point loss to a top-10 team.

Vs. Stanford, this is a game I would have expected SC to win even on the road. They gave up 21 to Stanford and scored only 16. Stanford 38 against BC, 51 (!) against ASU, then 21 against USC. This is a big big drop off for a high-powered and experienced offense. I think this means Stanford is pretty good.

The problem with USC is their offense. The "D" is good yes but their offense needs some help. They put up an average of less than 14 points per game. Against Washington this is a problem, because UDub has no issues on defense.

Therefore I see a low-scoring affair with the game won on turnovers and special teams. I don't know if there's such a gauge anywhere but I would suspect Washington has the best special teams in the country right now. Palmer has thrown 6 ints and 2 touchdowns. Cody Pickett has thrown 1 int and it was a bobbled pass that should have been caught.

Washington is not helped by losing three team leaders. Stevens, Hurst and Cleman are out and it's a big hit. The running game will pay for it and facing a good defense like they will be I'm betting we'll see a poor running effort from the Huskies. Mr. 3rd Down will have to be Elstrom instead of Stevens. The Huskies will make up for it with some long-distance attempts to maybe the speediest corps of receivers I have ever seen here, and they're just kids.

My call is UDub 28, USC 21 on the hope of Washington getting at least two picks and the magical home-field advantage.

- COMMENTS -

Once again the Huskies came back in the 4th quarter to win what was really a very even game. USC played very well in the first part of the game and established the running game quickly. Their defense was equally effective in the first half. The yardstick shows Washington doing much better but it was a close game to the end.

The Trojans lost this game through coaching. Although their plan worked at first, Washington made the proper adjustments at the half, essentially stopping USC in their tracks. USC had no answer to the changes and kept with their game plan (give ball to McCullough; Repeat.) At first he ran for 8 yards every carry. Then 5. Then 3. Then -1. USC had no answer. At the end of the game we saw some linebacker/safety blitzes that were new for USC as well. Except for the long ~50 yard pass in the 4th quarter I think the Huskies pretty much dominated on defense in the 2nd half.

Meanwhile the Husky offense changed radically. In the first half they were very conservative, then answered in the 2nd half by spreading receivers and using screen passes in key plays. From my vantage this completely fooled the USC defense, who otherwise was very good. The running game clicked for the first time this year.

USC's punting is a major factor. It reminds me of our kicking game about 3 years ago. Never take your kickers for granted, it's a key part of the game. (A running joke on Sportscenter last night, but true).

Maybe it's too easy to point to the Pro coaching technique, which is basically "never deviate from your game plan ever." College doesn't work that way. Sorry Coach Carroll, this isn't the NFL.

USC has a good team and they'll gel eventually, once Coach figures out the ingredients. That's if SC's boosters will sit still for that long.