The Living Room Times

Last week, immediately after USC wrapped up its epic victory over Ohio State, our resident “Trojan Husky,” David K., responded to my obligatory “Beat the Huskies!” tweet by commenting: “BOW DOWN! BEAT THE TROJANS!” I snarkily responded, “My my, aren’t we getting uppity and optimistic after our first win since 2007, over the sixth-worst team in Division I-A [i.e., Idaho].”

But, as David pointed out, Washington looked good in its loss to LSU. Two games into the Sarkisian Era, the Huskies already appear much improved from the disaster of the Ty years. Jake Locker is back, and he’s the real deal. Washington may be 1-15 in their last 16 games, but they ought not be dismissed out of hand. We don’t know yet what this year’s UW team is capable of — we’ll find out tomorrow. But Stewart Mandel is bullish, predicting a Husky stunner, 27-24 over the Trojans:

It’s a classic letdown game for USC. Husky Stadium will be revved up, Washington quarterback Jake Locker can cause problems for any defense and the Trojans’ offense showed against Ohio State it’s still quite clearly a work in progress — and that was before quarterback Matt Barkley hurt his shoulder.

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