Washington 24, UCLA 7

In order to keep its Bowl hopes alive, Washington needed to outlast the visiting UCLA Bruins on Nov. 18, and they did just that with a 24-7 win in Seattle.

All seemed like clear skies for the Bruins in the first quarter after taking a 7-0 lead on a Johnathan Franklin touchdown rushed to the right for 31-yards. Franklin finished the game with 18 rushes for just 53 yards.

In the second quarter, the Washington Huskies responded to make the score 7-7. Star quarterback Jake Locker rushed through the left side for a three-yard gain and the TD with 5:57 left before halftime. Locker almost did not play in the game because of sore ribs, but his head coach Steve Sarkisian allowed it.

“I felt really good, and [Sarkisian] knew I was going to be really honest with him,” Locker reveals. “We have a really good open relationship, and I truly don’t believe he would have let me be out there all week practicing and thinking I’m going to play without that intention.”

Locker threw for 68 yards on 10-of-21 attempts, including one interception. For the Bruins, three different quarterbacks saw action and all threw for an interception.

Defensive stops prevented the Bruins (4-6, 2-5) from doing additional scoring, and then the Huskies offense took over. The Huskies (4-6, 3-4) managed a 27-yard field goal in the third quarter before adding two touchdowns in the fourth quarter at 6:22 and 4:24, respectively.

As a team, the Huskies finished with a season-high 253 yards on the ground.

“We knew that we were going to run the ball, but I had no clue that we were gonna just keep running it like that,” running back Chris Polk remarks. “That was just a dream for me.”

The Bruins return to action on Friday, Nov. 26, as they travel to Arizona for a tough affair against the Arizona State Sun Devils (4-6, 2-5) in Tempe.



Oregon State 36, USC 7

The USC Trojans lost a tough matchup in Corvallis, Ore., on Nov. 20 against the Beavers by a score of 36-7, but the SoCal team perhaps lost its starting sophomore quarterback, Matt Barkley, for an even tougher game this coming weekend.

Barkley suffered an obviously painful sprained left ankle just before halftime, and he could be out when the Trojans host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Barkley remained on the ground for a while after suffering the injury. A reporter after the affair asked him if he thought his season was practically over because of the injury.

“That’s the last thing I want, and I’ll do everything in my power not to let that happen,” he states.

The score read 20-0 in favor of the Beavers when Barkley went down and then came out of the game. However, the game was rather competitive after one quarter of play, with the host squad ahead just 3-0. Oregon State went on to fire 17 points in the second quarter and took control of the contest thereafter.

To begin the second quarter, Barkley threw an interception, and Beaver Jordan Poyer took the ball back the other way for a 65-yard scoring touchdown to put OSU up 10-0. Star running back Jacquizz Rodgers followed that with 7:06 on the clock when he rushed for a three-yard TD run through the left side. Kicker Justin Kahut added a field goal from 38 yards out before halftime.

Kahut added another field goal later in the third quarter before the Trojans collected their lone score of the night when running back C.J. Gable rushed for a 13-yard gain and eventual TD run. Oregon State went on to add two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

Oregon State’s Rodgers finished with 26 carries, 128 rushing yards and one touchdown. From the receiving side, Rodgers led his team as well with seven catches for 43 yards.

Over the past years, USC has had trouble winning games in Oregon State’s field, and head coach Lane Kiffin recognizes that.

“I don’t know that anybody has ever figured it out,” Kiffin says. “They play really well when they’re up here against us, and we’ve helped them out.”

The Trojans (7-4) face non-conference rivals the Fighting Irish Saturday, Nov. 27, at 5 p.m. at the Los Angeles Coliseum.