USC Trojans Cannot Finish Off the Washington Huskies

It was a night of wasted opportunities for both teams. But most of all the Trojans showed that they just do not have the drive to finish teams off.

“We’ve got to do a better job.  We’ve got to finish people off when we’ve got a chance to, time and time again in that game,” Lane Kiffin said after the Trojans suffered their first defeat of the year, 32-31, at the hand of the Washington Huskies.

“You can’t go down there twice and only come away with three points.”  Kiffin was referring to the Trojans last two drives.

On the Trojans’ next to last drive, Matt Barkley overthrew David Ausberry in the end zone, and Joe Houston kicked a 27-yard field goal.

On the last drive, Barkley overthrew Jordan Cameron on a third down.   Kiffin sent Houston in for another field goal attempt.  This one was from 40 yards out, and Houston hit it wide right.

From that point on, It was déjà vu for the Trojans as quarterback Jake Locker took the Huskies downfield to set up Erik Folk’s winning 32-yard field goal exactly like last year in Washington.

"Don't blame Joe (Houston),” Barkley said afterward. "It was about our offense not putting points on the board."

Barkley is right.  The offense only put up three points when they had the opportunity to score 14 and put the game away.  In each case, Barkley threw high and very hard.

Asked if he was thinking about possible interceptions, Barkley responded, “No! I have confidence in myself to make the throws.  I just didn’t make the throws.”

Apparently, Kiffin had enough confidence on a third-and-four to have Barkley pass when Allan Bradford had put the Trojans in scoring position all night long, amassing 223 yards on 21 carries.

Then after Barkley’s pass went awry, Kiffin had Houston attempt another field goal.  How could Kiffin let the game on ride on Houston’s leg when Houston has not hit on any of his attempts from that distance this season?

The Trojans had two chances to make the four yards, but for some reason Kiffin chose to trust Barkley and Houston rather than Bradford.

But Barkley is correct in saying that the Trojans should blame Joe Houston. 

Even if Houston had made that field goal, the Trojans would have only been up by five points.  There is no doubt that the Huskies would have gone into the end zone on their final drive if they had needed to.

The Trojan defense could not stop Locker and the Huskies all night.

Locker accounted for an incredible 420 yards, 310 through the air and another 110 rushing.  Chris Polk, the Huskies starting tailback had a good night as well, picking up 92 yards on 13 carries.

Polk’s 26-yard scamper after Locker passed for a first down on fourth and eleven set up the winning field goal.

Altogether the Huskies carved out 536 yards on the Trojans’ bend-and-then-break defense.  And it could have been much worse.

Believe it or not, Locker wasn’t having a great night.  He missed at least four wide open receivers.  Two would have gone for sure touchdowns.  Locker, himself, ripped off a 54-yard run then fumbled the ball out of the end zone for a touchback when hit from behind by Shareece Wright.

But it wasn’t just Locker missing receivers.  His receivers had at least four drops

To be perfectly honest, Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian may have been ecstatic over the Huskies’ victory.  But he could not have been too pleased with the way his Huskies finished drives. 

Instead of having to settle for four Eric Folk field goals, the Washington offense could have had four or five more touchdowns.  They accumulated a phenomenal 80 percent of all the yards possible.

The Trojan defense could not finish tackles.  The front four, except for a couple of sacks, could not get to Locker.  The linebackers could not contain the run.  The secondary simply could not cover Washington receivers. 

And worst of all, no one on the Trojan defense could finish off a third-and-long or a fourth-and-long.

Let’s just hope the Trojans are not finished and can bounce back from this loss.