USC football team’s season-long flaws apparent in road loss to Washington

SEATTLE — USC players and coaches knew that if they wanted to be the third team to win at Washington in the past four seasons, they would need to play a near-perfect game. No turnovers, no special teams gaffes, no drive-killing penalties.

Instead, all of the Trojans’ issues in 2019 reared their heads in a 28-14 loss to No. 17 Washington.

“We made enough mistakes to lose the game,” head coach Clay Helton said.

In the turnover battle that Helton made a priority before the road bout, the Trojans fell short in that area, too. USC did create one turnover on defense, a fumble recovery by Chris Steele in the fourth quarter when Washington (4-1, 1-1) got too fancy on a trick play.

But even that success was marred by a penalty as injured safety Talanoa Hufanga was flagged for being on the field to celebrate. USC was unable to capitalize on the turnover and had to punt the ball away.

Meanwhile, quarterback Matt Fink threw three costly interceptions.

The first came in the opening quarter. Fink took too big of a stride on a pass intended for Drake London, and the ball sailed far over the freshman receiver’s head and was snatched by Washington’s Cameron Williams. The Huskies started at the USC 38 and needed four plays before Salvon Ahmed ran into the end zone for a 14-0 lead.

The second pick was even more painful for USC. After Stephen Carr broke out a 60-yard run in the third quarter to give the Trojans the chance to cut the Washington lead to one possession, Fink missed defensive back Elijah Molden.

When Fink tried to force the ball to Michael Pittman Jr., Molden jumped to make the interception at the Washington 4. Two plays later, Ahmed broke off an 89-yard touchdown run to make it a 28-7 Washington lead.

The third Fink interception came on the goal line with 2:20 left to play, ending any hopes of a wild USC comeback.

“It was just a bad read,” Fink said, fighting through his emotions. “Should have handed the ball off, and that’s on me.”

Saturday’s game made USC minus-seven in turnover margin this season.

Fink, the third-string quarterback, forced into action by injuries to Kedon Slovis and JT Daniels, wasn’t able to replicate his performance last week against Stanford. He had his moments against Washington, like his three-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter and a 44-yard touchdown pass to Pittman.

But for the most part he was unable to make long throws against Washington’s cover 2 defense.

“What came down to it was my decision making,” Fink said. “It wasn’t the best. The ball was turned over way too much and they capitalized on just about each and every one of them, which did not help at all.”

Even USC’s typical strengths were muted against the Huskies. Saturday was the first time the Trojans failed to score on their opening drive. Their typically-stout red-zone defense came up short, too, allowing the Huskies to score on all four of their trips inside the USC 20.

The Trojans defense did its best to keep USC in the game, especially with starting safety Hufanga (concussion) and corner Olaijah Griffin (back) out. The Trojans held Washington to one first down in the fourth quarter, and quarterback Jacob Eason to 16-for-26 passing for 180 yards.

But USC’s struggles against outside runs continued as Washington exploited this frequently, including on Ahmed’s 89-yard touchdown run.

Still, USC stayed in the game. USC’s run game, which had a resurgent 212-yard performance behind Carr and Markese Stepp, got USC down to the Washington goal line with six minutes to play.

But the Trojans could move no further. On fourth-and-goal, Fink went to London in the corner of the end zone, but it was broken up by Myles Bryant.

USC needed a near-perfect performance to win in Seattle. What it got instead just reinforced the season-long flaws the Trojans have displayed.

“We had an opportunity to really come away with a win today, and we let that go,” Helton said. “At the end of the day, don’t have more turnovers than they have.”

Still, Helton made a bold prediction: That USC would meet Washington again, in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

“This is our first conference loss to a North opponent,” he said. “We got the opportunity to go win the Pac-12 South and hopefully meet them again.”