Seattle (AP) — Southern California's Stafon Johnson stayed face down on
the turf. Jubilant Washington players and fans stepped over him, on
their way to a riotous purple party that stretched from goal line to
goal line.
USC coach Pete Carroll was forced to watch it all,
glumly waiting for Steve Sarkisian to emerge from the throng to
congratulate his protege. The post-Ohio State funk Carroll began
warning his guys about seven days earlier — in the locker room in
Columbus, Ohio — leveled the Trojans again.
Jake Locker
improvised his Huskies to a steely, 68-yard drive that ended on Erik
Folk's 22-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining, and the Huskies'
fired-up defense stymied fill-in quarterback Aaron Corp and No. 3 USC
in a 16-13 victory Saturday.
USC has now lost to an unranked team each of the last four seasons.
"Washington
wasn't the better team. They just outplayed us," said a shrugging Joe
McKnight, who ran for 100 yards on 11 carries with USC's only
touchdown. "Clearly, we have superior athletes. But hard work beats
athleticism any day."
Carroll's team was stung by eight
penalties, an 0-for-10 conversion rate on third down and three
turnovers inside the Washington 35.
"We didn't get any better from last week," he said. "I'm not doing a good enough job of making the points of how we win."
One
year after Oregon State upset USC in the Pac-10 opener following an
impressive Trojans win over Ohio State, an old friend upset Carroll's
powerful team. Washington coach Steve Sarkisian was his offensive
coordinator before taking over in Seattle in January, trying to rebuild
a team that had the Pac-10's first 0-12 season last year.
"It's unbelievable," Sarkisian said. "It's a great moment for our program and hopefully sends a message of where we're headed."
The Trojans are headed back to playing catch-up in the race for a national title.
Quarterback
Matt Barkley, who directed an epic game-winning drive to beat the
Buckeyes 18-15 in Columbus, Ohio, last week, watched USC's latest
stunning upset from the sideline. The 19-year-old freshman was out with
a sore shoulder, yielding this week's star status to Locker for one of
the most memorable wins in Washington's proud but recently buried
history.
The Trojans were also without All-American safety Taylor
Mays. He missed his first career game because of the right knee
ligament he sprained against the Buckeyes.
"It's a slap in the face," Mays said of the loss in his hometown.
USC
(2-1, 0-1), nearly a three-touchdown favorite, was held to its fewest
points since a 13-9 loss to UCLA on Dec. 2, 2006, by a defense that
allowed Idaho 412 yards last week.
Washington (2-1, 1-0) came in
riding a 10-game losing streak in Pac-10 games. It had broken a
conference record-tying 15-game overall skid last week. The Huskies
lost 56-0 at USC last season, the biggest rout in the 80-game history
of the series. Locker missed that blowout with an injury, but was 21
for 35 for 237 yards while absorbing four sacks Saturday.
This is
the highest-ranked team beaten by Washington in Seattle since Nov. 14,
1981, also against third-ranked USC. It was the Huskies' first win over
the Trojans since 2001, Carroll's first season at USC.
"I can't
really describe it," Locker said, his voice hoarse following emotional
tears. "It's an amazing feeling to go through what all of us have gone
through and to experience what everyone wants to experience when they
play college football."
The Trojans were up 10-0 and outgaining
Washington 133-15 just 10 minutes into the game. They then began
hurting themselves with mistakes, again allowing a team that seemed to
be no match for all their blue chip recruits and future NFL draft picks
to beat them.
Last season, it was Oregon State. The year before
that it was Stanford. The year before that it was UCLA, when USC had a
chance to play for the national title.
Corp, a sophomore making his first career start, was 13 for 22 for 110 yards with one interception.
"I felt I was prepared. I just didn't execute," Corp said, solemnly.
Carroll
had Barkley warming up behind the bench in the fourth quarter but
decided not to use him because the freshman's couldn't get his shoulder
loose.
"We didn't throw the ball very well today. It was
obvious," Carroll said. "We couldn't get the ball down the field very
much. We've rarely been in that situation."
Still, USC was in position to pull it out.
McKnight
took off on a 34-yard run — and receiver Ausberry recovered his fumble
at the end of the sprint — to get USC to the Huskies 22 while down
13-10 with 6 minutes left. But Donald Butler, who had 12 tackles, one
interception and one forced fumble, stopped Johnson on third-and-6.
That forced the Trojans to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Jordan
Congdon that tied it at 13 with 4 minutes remaining.
USC's offensive players angrily yanked their chin straps off for not taking the lead.
Locker, who came to Washington three seasons ago a much-hyped freshman much like Barkley, made the Trojans pay.
On
third-and-15 with 3:03 left, Locker connected with Jermaine Kearse for
21 yards on a rollout play. Locker rolled out for 4 yards to convert
another third down to the USC 39 with a minute left.
Locker then
avoided a rush, and fired 19 yards to Kearse, to the 16. Locker and
Kearse shared a leaping chest bump, old Husky Stadium swayed, and a
roughing-the-passer penalty put the Huskies at the 8 with 33 seconds
left.
One running play later, Washington called time out with 7
seconds left to put Folk in position. The sophomore from Woodland
Hills, Calif., nailed it down the middle.
USC tried multiple laterals on the final play, the kickoff, but couldn't get out of its own end.
After
gaining 223 yards in the first half, USC had just 80 in its first three
drives after halftime against a defense of which its own coordinator,
former Trojans defensive coordinator Nick Holt, said this week: "There
are deficiencies there with personnel."
Not this week.