It's USC week, and the Washington Huskies know it - especially those that played in the last game between the two teams in Seattle. It was 2016, UW was ranked #4, ESPN Game Day was in town, and USC spoiled the party.
Obviously everything has pretty much changed since that time. Washington has continued to flirt with the college football playoff but hasn't quite reached the summit. USC, on the other hand, has really changed a lot. Their offense has totally changed. New offensive coordinator Graham Harrell brought the Air Raid system with him. He played and coached under Mike Leach, so are the Huskies going to be seeing WSU South? Probably not. There's enough wrinkles to keep Death Row guessing a little bit, but there's enough similarities between how they run the Air Raid in Los Angeles compared to Pullman to give UW a great sense of what they'll be up against Saturday at 12:30 pm.
Washington under Chris Petersen is going to keep an even keel as much as possible. They are going to practice the same for Eastern Washington as they would for USC. But for the players, especially the twenty-plus players that call the greater Los Angeles and San Diego areas home, this game means just a little bit more than the others. This is the mighty Men of Troy, the program they all watched as kids.
The Dawgman guys - Kim Grinolds, Chris Fetters, and Jack McCauley - talked to a bunch of Washington players Tuesday about playing USC, recapping their emphatic win at BYU, and also the kind of atmosphere they're expecting on Saturday. Fall quarter starts up Wednesday, so this was the media's chance to talk to the players before the game.
For players like Aaron Fuller, Andre Baccellia, Benning Potoa'e and Myles Bryant who played in that 2016 loss to USC, they remember full well the 'Black Out', the Husky Stadium crowd at night...all of it. And they want even more of that kind of energy and enthusiasm this weekend.
The Lineup
Quarterback Jacob Eason
Running Back Sean McGrew
Receiver Aaron Fuller
Receiver Andre Baccellia
Center Nick Harris
Left Guard Luke Wattenberg
Defensive Lineman Benning Potoa'e
Outside Linebacker Ryan Bowman
Defensive Back Myles Bryant
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