USC vs Washington Week 5 Betting Preview

Jake Locker has the Dawgs playing with some bite as USC travels to the Emerald City

Sept 27th, 2007

By Jason Brough
Bodog Nation Contributing Writers

The University of Washington Huskies boast a rich football tradition. They've made 14 appearances in the Rose Bowl, seven of them victorious; they've laid claim to two national titles in 1960 and 1991; and their alumni list includes the likes of Warren Moon, Mark Brunell and Corey Dillon.

In recent years, however, the program has fallen on hard times. Most will say its demise started with coach Rick Neuheisel, who was fired in the summer of 2003 for lying about his involvement in a college basketball pool. Others will say the program was in trouble even before Neuheisel was let go.

At any rate, under Neuheisel's replacement, Keith Gilbertson, the Huskies finished 6-6 in 2003. The year after, they went 1-10.

Cue Tyrone Willingham to the rescue. Fresh off an unsuccessful stint as head coach at Notre Dame, Willingham would face an equally challenging job at U-Dub. In 2005, his first season with the school, the Dawgs went 2-9.

But the next year saw more than just an improvement on the field (the Huskies finished 5-7) - it also witnessed the beginning of the Jake Locker era.

Locker, a highly touted, 6-foot-3-inch, 225-pound quarterback from Ferndale, Wash., led his 2005 high school team to a 14-0 record and the Washington 3A state title. Along the way, he passed for 1,603 yards and 27 touchdowns with only three interceptions and ran for 1,338 yards and 24 scores.

In 2006, Locker redshirted at the Seattle campus, drawing rave reviews for his work on the Huskies' scout team.

In 2007, coach Willingham handed his star recruit the keys to the offense and saw immediate results. During the Huskies' season opener at Syracuse, Locker ran for 83 yards and two touchdowns and completed 14 of 19 passes for 142 yards. More importantly, Washington beat the Orange, 42-12.

Next up was Boise State at Husky Stadium. Once again, Locker was the star, throwing for one touchdown and running for another as the Huskies snapped the Broncos' 14-game winning streak with a 24-10 victory.

"This speaks volumes for our team and hopefully for our program," Willingham said after the game.

Granted, since beating Boise State, it hasn't been quite so fun for Locker and the Dawgs, though the competition might have had something to do with that. Home to No. 8 Ohio State on Sep. 15, Locker threw three interceptions as the Huskies fell 33-14. The next week at UCLA, he threw two more picks as the Bruins won a wild one, 44-31. Still, the young quarterback showed flashes of brilliance in each affair.

This week, it's No. 1 USC coming to town, which begs the divergent question: Do the Huskies have the toughest schedule in the land? Consider who they've already played and the fact they're at No. 23 Arizona State next week followed by a home game against No. 11 Oregon. Not to mention, No. 6 California and No. 19 Hawaii are still to come. What, LSU was all booked up?

Of course, nobody's looking past the Trojans and what might be the most anticipated college football game to hit Seattle in quite some time. Simply put, Locker gives the 21-point underdog Huskies hope for a miracle.

Among the believers in Locker's abilities is a man who once tried to recruit him, USC head coach Pete Carroll.

"The quarterback has just lit it up for a redshirt freshman – as good a first showing, first four or five games, as a guy could have," Carroll said. "They know they have a great one in this kid. He's not a normal freshman out there playing.

"He poses a lot of problems, and I'm having trouble seeing anything else when I'm looking at them. We're going to do everything we can to slow him down and keep him from being the factor that controls the football game. I think he's that good."

Locker surely appreciates the compliments but knows Carroll and his linebacking corps from hell – even without the hobbled Brian Cushing – won't spend much time singing his praises Saturday evening. They'll be more concerned about minimizing his running opportunities and forcing him to stay in the pocket and complete passes, something his 53.1 percent completion rate suggests has been a problem.

Besides Locker, the Huskies can also take positives from last year's game against the Trojans in Los Angeles. Down 26-20 as a 19-point underdog, Washington drove all the way to USC’s 15-yard line but ran out of time, unable to take one final shot at victory.

"I think Washington played really good against us last year and we had our hands full," confirmed Carroll. "We played really hard in that game, but we struggled to get points on the board and we struggled to get any separation in the game. They played really well and they're better this year, so it's going to be a very difficult game for us, particularly up there."

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