Trojans’ win a tale of woe, and ... whoa!

Don’t ask USC about the current sad state of Washington football.

Forget that Washington quarterback Jake Locker, one of the most dynamic players in the Pacific 10 Conference, is on the shelf because of a broken thumb.

Or that the Huskies are now the only winless team in major college football.

Or that Coach Tyrone Willingham was fired this week, effective at the end of the season.

“I know they’ve been through a lot -- that’s their problem, not ours,” USC receiver Patrick Turner said after the Trojans routed the Huskies, 56-0, on Saturday at the Coliseum. “We just want to win.”

For the third time in four games, the Trojans did that without giving up a point.

Like their 28-0 victory over Arizona State and 69-0 win at Washington State, the Trojans dominated defensively from start to finish.

And after struggling with offensive inconsistency throughout a victory last week at Arizona, the Trojans executed pretty much whatever they pleased to remain in the race for a possible berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

“I don’t know that we could have done a whole lot better,” said Coach Pete Carroll, whose team improved to 7-1 overall and 5-1 in conference play. “I thought we answered the challenge of this game in great fashion and did everything we needed to do.”

USC, ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press poll, entered the game No. 5 in the BCS standings. That position could change, for better or worse, after BCS No. 7 Texas Tech defeated No. 1 Texas on Saturday night and No. 8 Florida crushed No. 6 Georgia earlier in the day.

Regardless, the Trojans have now won five consecutive games since losing at Oregon State on Sept. 25.

The loss at Corvallis, however, continues to haunt Carroll.

“We’ve missed two quarters of play in this whole season,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that it’s still hanging there.”

But players continue to reference their defeat to explain the run of success.

“We’re a completely different team,” said middle linebacker Rey Maualuga, who had one of the Trojans’ three interceptions against Washington. “That loss against Oregon State couldn’t have come at a better time as far as finding leadership and character. We’re not looking back.”

On Saturday, the Trojans looked across the line of scrimmage at Washington players still reeling from the announcement that Willingham would step down after the season finale against one-win Washington State.

The Trojans raced to a 42-0 halftime lead before a crowd of 80,216, and then played reserves nearly the entire second half to help Carroll improve his November record to 24-0.

“We came into the game knowing we had to play perfect and could not make mistakes,” said Willingham, whose team fell to 0-8 and 0-5 in conference play.

“With penalties and different things we did not give ourselves a chance to win.”

Washington never really had an opportunity against the nation’s top-ranked defense.

The Trojans limited the Huskies to 35 yards and two first downs in the first half.

Meanwhile, USC quarterback Mark Sanchez got his groove back after struggling against Arizona.

Last week, Sanchez missed an opportunity for a touchdown pass on the first play against the Wildcats and it haunted the junior through several series.

Against Washington, he went five for five on the Trojans’ first possession and capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to Turner.

“That feels good, but even if I don’t complete those first passes it has to be the same mentality heading into the huddle and on the next pass,” said Sanchez, who finished 15 for 19 for 167 yards and two touchdowns in just over two quarters. “I’m really getting a good grasp on that and I’m really starting to understand how important that is to refocus and regroup after every snap.”

Sanchez’s second touchdown pass to Turner, a 32-yard strike, pushed the lead to 14-0. C.J. Gable rushed for two touchdowns and Stafon Johnson and Sanchez also scored as the Trojans amassed 325 yards in the first half.

Gable finished with 108 yards in 10 carries.

“We just wanted to make sure we fixed the things we needed to work on -- converting first downs and scoring in the red zone,” said Johnson, who rushed for 40 yards, caught two passes and set up Gable’s first touchdown with a 25-yard punt return.

Reserve linebacker Chris Galippo and safety Drew McAllister intercepted second-half passes to thwart Washington threats and preserve the shutout, giving the Trojans three in a season for the first time since 1982.

The only negative element for USC was a recurrence of its penalty problems. The Trojans were flagged 10 times for 90 yards.

USC now turns its focus to next week’s game against California, which is expected to offer a far greater test than the Huskies.

The Trojans do not expect the Golden Bears, or other remaining opponents, to be impressed by victories over the Washington schools that came by a combined score of 125-0.

“It doesn’t mean much to future opponents,” defensive end Clay Matthews said, “unless we keep doing what we’re doing.”

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gary.klein@latimes.com