Washington’s lone blemish this college football season occurred last month, when the Huskies lost 26-13 to visiting Southern California.
USC opened its year with a 52-6 loss to Alabama at AT&T Stadium near Dallas, which gives the No. 1 Crimson Tide and the No. 4 Huskies very different outcomes against their lone common opponent entering their New Year’s Eve national semifinal in the Peach Bowl. Though Alabama’s decimation of the Trojans occurred before Labor Day, Huskies coach Chris Petersen said it definitely will be included in his video study of the Tide.
“The nice thing is having time to look at everything, but it’s a decent gauge,” Petersen said. “We played USC, so we know those athletes and those coaches, but we already know the tremendous challenge that we have going against Alabama. We don’t need to put on that tape to know what kind of challenge we have.
“When we do, it will certainly put things in perspective.”
Alabama opened its season with redshirt freshman Blake Barnett as the starting quarterback, but true freshman Jalen Hurts entered late in the first quarter with the Crimson Tide trailing USC 3-0 and fumbled away his first snap. Hurts then ignited the Crimson Tide, who scored 38 straight points in the runaway win.