Trojans didn't look like No. 1

Striding briskly to the locker room at end of a brief halftime radio interview Saturday night at Husky Stadium, Tyrone Willingham had a parting shot regarding his football team's opponent in cardinal and gold:

"Don't believe the hype."

Not that 68,654 partisans in the house were so inclined. You could almost sense the collective question:

"This is a No. 1 football team?"

The fans had come to the decaying place on the lake expecting to hear a little of Pavarotti in his prime, and instead they got William Hung.

Pete Carroll, the vivacious USC coach, clicked off the ways the Trojans betrayed themselves: 16 penalties for 161 yards, a fumbled snap, two interceptions, a bad punt snap, dropped passes.

"It was the classic game, where you really mess it up and give away the night," said Carroll. He meant that all the trappings were there for a USC defeat: the hostile crowd, the chilly air, the resilient Huskies, and the pervading sense that the Trojans would rather have been just about anywhere but here.

So yes, this was a No. 1 team, thanks for asking, because USC won 27-24. It's No. 1 because it isn't Oklahoma or Florida, which were believed to be among a fearsome foursome of schoolboy teams — along with USC and LSU — but were undressed by a couple of undistinguished clubs that each carried two losses into the day.

"When you get a win, you take it," said Trojans linebacker Thomas Williams. "Wins are hard to come by."

Just ask the Sooners and Gators. Matter of fact, just ask the Trojans, who seemed to have to beat back the Huskies' upset chances about 17 times before they finally took a knee with 30 seconds left and it ended. Even then, you were sure John David Booty was going to fumble the snap and Jake Locker was going to be heaving one toward the end zone as the clock reached double zeros.

"We made it close tonight," sighed Booty.

The Trojans were an upset begging to happen, partly because injuries are reducing them to somewhere near mortal. When they lost Shareece Wright to a hamstring pull in the first half, that meant they were down three starting cornerbacks since the season began.

Early in the second quarter, a cart hauled off 40 percent of the Trojans' starting offensive line — freshman center Kristofer O'Dowd and veteran guard Chilo Rachal — to the locker room. In for O'Dowd stepped Matt Spanos, out since training camp with a triceps injury.

Due in part to Washington, USC seemed oddly out of sync all night. Booty looked like he'd have trouble winning All-Pac-10 honors, never mind the Heisman Trophy.

"Everything was high tonight," said Carroll, talking about Booty's passes.

"When it was about to come out," said Booty, "it would slip out of my fingers."

When he did throw it well, he got no help at the other end. In particular, Trojans fullback Stanley Havili caught like the ball was radioactive, leaving Carroll shaking his head.

"Stanley, that's not him," he said. "He's a tremendous catcher."

So here were the Trojans as the fourth quarter wound down, only a play away from losing a shot at the national championship to a team with a quarterback who didn't throw for 100 yards. In the Pac-10.

Jake Locker was game, he was gutsy, and he took a big-time beating from the Trojans, starting with a thunderous late hit by Wright on the USC sideline on the Huskies' first drive.

You knew USC's defenders would be a tremendous challenge for the UW redshirt freshman, and they were. Rey Maualuga and Keith Rivers punished him and chased him sideline to sideline. One time Locker was pursued to the boundary by nose tackle Sedrick Ellis.

"You could see previously, before tonight, he just kind of stuck his head on a linebacker, a lineman, anybody," Williams said. "Tonight, he didn't really do that. We got to him early.

"I don't think he was a factor."

Remember when LSU coach Les Miles made his infamous summertime comment about USC's easy road to a national-title game? Well, this was the Trojans' first conference road test, and it was putatively one of the easy ones. USC still has to go to Oregon, to California, to Arizona State.

"Is it true six out of the top 10 teams lost today?" Carroll asked rhetorically.

Actually, it was only five. But for 3 ½ tenuous hours by the lake, his own team was a candidate. These days, that's life at the top.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com