USC football: A fan’s look back at the Washington game

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USC has played bad games under Pete Carroll. The surprise from the 16-13 loss to Washington on Saturday is that the Trojans have now played two bad games in a row. And bad might be a kind description for the way they’re playing. USC was fortunate to overcome its offensive woes in the 18-15 victory at Ohio State last week. No such luck at Husky Stadium. The Trojans got exactly what they deserved for their uninspired play — a loss to a team they beat, 56-0, last season at the Coliseum.

Where is the USC offense? The Trojans have two sustained drives for touchdowns in the last eight quarters. They can’t convert on third down (0 for 10 against the Huskies). Aaron Corp didn’t get the job done replacing an injured Matt Barkley at quarterback.

Think Corp will ever get the chance again to replace a healthy Barkley as the starter? Let’s give Carroll some credit for knowing which quarterback to go with.

USC put up 10 points on its first two possessions against Washington, then flatlined the rest ...

... of the game. Carroll constantly preaches the importance of holding onto the ball, yet two of the team’s more experienced players, Stafon Johnson and Stanley Havili, fumbled inside the Washington 30-yard line. Joe McKnight — again — lost the ball, but both his fumbles were recovered by the Trojans.

And Corp’s interception came on a second-and-two play from the Washington 22-yard line with the score tied 10-10 late in the third quarter. The pass was terrible, the play call not much better. The Trojans couldn’t have gotten two yards on two running plays?

Corp never looked comfortable throwing. Carroll talked about possibly replacing him with the sore-shouldered Barkley in the fourth quarter. But Barkley wasn’t physically able to play. The fact Corp stayed in tells you all you need to know about what the coaching staff thinks of third-stringer Mitch Mustain.

Perhaps Mustain can punt, something he did in practice recently. Mustain couldn’t be any worse than Billy O’Malley, whose poor efforts have USC continually losing the field-position battle. O’Malley had a 53-yard punt Saturday, but only after the ball rolled about 20 yards.

And can the Trojans field a punt without getting called for a hold or a block in the back? Carroll hired a special teams coordinator (Brian Schneider) this season. I have yet to see any positive results from that.

I’m not surprised USC lost a game this season. I thought the road schedule (at Cal, at Notre Dame, at Oregon) would prove to be too much for a team with an untested quarterback.

I just didn’t think the loss would come at Washington, against former offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, whom a lot of Trojans fans couldn’t wait to get rid of.

It’s four years in a row now USC has lost to an unranked opponent in the conference, and each one seems to get worse. What’s most disturbing about this one is that the Trojans have taken dramatic steps backward since their 56-3 win over San Jose State to open the season.

After the loss at Oregon State last season, USC won its final 10 games.

I don’t see that happening again this year unless the Trojans get a lot better.

And soon.

-- Hans Tesselaar