SEATTLE (AP) – It sounds so simple, but for two weeks Steve Sarkisian preached to his players about playing without fear.
He noticed it in each of Washington’s first three games, that his Huskies were playing “concerned football,” wrapped up with trepidation about the mistakes they might make versus just playing.
“We were worried about things,” Sarkisian said on Monday. “We don’t need to worry about anything. Let’s go out and just go play.”
The two weeks of urging following Washington’s embarrassing loss to Nebraska paid off Saturday when the Huskies upset then-No. 18 Southern California 32-31 in Los Angeles. It was the Huskies’ first road victory in nearly three calendar years, their first road win over a ranked team since 2003 and for at least one Saturday answered a number of the questions that lingered following the 56-21 blowout loss to Nebraska.
Above all else, quarterback Jake Locker restored his name – and possibly status – among the top quarterbacks in the country. The question of whether Locker was severely overhyped was rightfully being discussed after the senior completed just 4 of 20 passes against Nebraska in the worst performance of his career.
That followed up Washington’s season-opening loss at Brigham Young – now 1-4 – where Locker failed to finish two potential game-winning drives deep in BYU territory in the fourth quarter.
After hearing two weeks of criticism, Locker responded with one of his finest efforts against the Trojans, throwing for 310 yards and running for another 110 – the second 300-100 game of his career. On the Huskies’ final drive, Locker tossed an 18-yard dart to D’Andre Goodwin on fourth-and-11 and later ran 8 yards on third-and-5 to set up Erik Folk’s game-winning 32-yard field goal.
Locker said he especially took Sarkisian’s message of playing without concern to heart during the Huskies’ week off.
“It’s something I thought about the two weeks leading up to this game and it was something I challenged the guys with,” Locker said. “I said, ‘Hey man … let’s go out and play without fear today. Let’s go out and have fun and enjoy the game and don’t worry about making mistakes. We’re going to make mistakes. Don’t dwell on them. Move on and keep playing.”’
Locker’s performance also answered a few questions about Sarkisian’s play-calling. Criticized for some of his decisions early in the year, Sarkisian smartly called for high-percentage throws to build Locker’s confidence and moved his athletic quarterback outside of the pocket. That led to more opportunity for Locker, both in the pass game and as a running threat.
The 110 yards on the ground was the second-highest total in Locker’s career, surpassed only by the 157 yards he had against Arizona in 2007 when Locker was a freshman at the helm of an offense that called for quarterback runs more often.
“After watching the games and looking back at the first three it was something, personally for me, that I felt was missing,” Locker said of his runs. “It was a part of my game that I think creates more of a challenge because you can’t account for it. It’s not designed and for me, helps me stay in the game, I believe.”
There isn’t much time for the Huskies to celebrate their first road win since Nov. 3, 2007, at Stanford. Washington hosts Arizona State this Saturday, with the Sun Devils having lost three straight, but by a combined 15 points.
After their upset of then-No. 3 USC last year, the Huskies promptly were thumped 34-14 at Stanford the following week, ending a brief return to the AP Top 25.
“Last year, we potentially could have – thinking in our own minds – ‘We’ve got to bring these guys back to Earth.’ Well, I think that was the wrong approach by me. That one’s on me,” Sarkisian said. “Where we’re at in beating SC on the road in the way we did, we’re on Earth. Let’s stay there. Let’s not go down to the depths of Hell. Let’s stay where we are supposed to be.”
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