Husky defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski talked about how talented the USC Trojans were, and how much of a handful they would be on the offensive side of the ball. And a handful they proved to be, on both sides of the ball.

Saturday in Montlake it was like the Trojans were issuing payback on the Huskies for when they dashed a Pete Carroll-led USC's dreams of a national championship. While USC still had the aura of a national powerhouse - a la Alabama today - they were dealt their first shock as a Jake Locker led Washington squad upset a highly ranked USC squad. 

While on this visit the Trojans weren't as under the radar as those Huskies were, coming in ranked 20th in the country, the Huskies were expected to get the W, especially at home. However the UW could not get anything going on offense, and despite picking off two passes from USC quarterback Sam Darnold, Darnold looked like he was the one leading a College Football Playoff contender.

On offense Jake Browning, who has looked nothing short of unstoppable all year, completed less than 50% of his passes and threw two interceptions to one touchdown. The Huskies couldn't turn to the ground game either as Myles Gaskin was bottled up for the first time all year, mustering only 51 yards on 15 carries with a long of only 11 yards.

Despite the production the Huskies have put out and climb in the rankings throughout the year, they were not - nor were they going to be - the most talented team on the field last Saturday. USC is still located in Los Angeles, and will always have their storied history of national titles and sending players to the NFL. Therefore they will more often than not, sign the recruits necessary to make them one of the most talented teams in the conference if not the country. Not this year has UW faced a team with USC's talent, and maybe earlier in the year they could have exploited a less cohesive Trojan squad, but they unfortunately drew them when they were starting to iron out the kinks.

Luckily three of the top four team in the country lost Saturday, with no. 1 Alabama the only team to stay undefeated. However the Huskie's lack of strength in their non-conference slate finally came to bite them, as they dropped to no. 6. They will still need to win out, and if Louisville who's ahead of them at fifth, lose the ACC title race, they could leapfrog them. Ohio State rose to second, however they are still behind Michigan in the Big 10 East standings, and might not make it to the conference title game. But if they can beat Jim Harbaugh and co. and hand the Wolverines two losses, that could help UW especially as Penn State would still go to the title game over the Buckeyes in that scenario.

But for the Huskies the mission is simple: just win.

Image: Flickr/McD22