USC head coach Steve Sarkisian will face his former team Thursday night when the Washington Huskies travel to the Los Angeles Coliseum to play the Trojans. USC just came off a big Pac-12 win against the Arizona State Sun Devils on Sep. 26. Washington will be desperately trying to get their first Pac-12 win of the season after losing to California.
Both programs have had more than a week to prepare for this Thursday night match up, and it will be interesting to see what game plans each coach has drawn up. The Trojans are led by quarterback Cody Kessler, who has already thrown for 1,297 yards with 15 touchdowns this season. The senior quarterback is a big time player and has been impressing NFL scouts this season.
Behind Kessler are two solid running backs in both Tre Madden and Ronald Jones II. Madden and Jones account for 455 rushing yards for the Trojans with a collective six touchdowns. Both Jones and Madden will look to move the ball on the ground tonight, as Kessler will move it through the air. Kessler will look to sophomore wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who is having an amazing season. Against Arizona State, Smith-Schuster caught five passes for 103 yards with two touchdowns. Smith-Schuster already has six touchdowns this season and will likely look to add one Thursday against the Huskies.
Washington is led by freshman quarterback Jake Browning, who has had ups and downs in his first year of college football. Browning has thrown for 996 yards with five touchdowns, but he has also thrown four interceptions this season. The Huskies will likely try to take control of the game clock Thursday night, and running backs Myles Gaskin and Dwayne Washington will need to have an impact for that to happen.
Against California, Washington rushed for 109 yards with a touchdown, and he averaged 10.9 yards per carry. Head coach Chris Petersen will likely look to get Washington his carries Thursday night as their run game will alleviate pressure on their freshman quarterback.
USC is trying to climb back up the rankings since their loss to Stanford, and a win against Washington will help their case. The Huskies are trying to get their first Pac-12 win under Browning, and they'll have a tough test tonight in the Coliseum. The game starts at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, and you can watch the live broadcast here. To find the Trojans radio broadcast, click here, and for the Huskies radio broadcast, go here.
