First-and-10: The key critiques and takeaways from USC's loss at Washington

There were clear reasons for concern as USC headed up to Washington this weekend with its third-string quarterback the only healthy option at the position and its top two defensive backs unavailable.

The latter part of that equation didn't end up mattering much, but the first part certainly did as Matt Fink tossed 3 interceptions in the Trojans' 28-14 loss to the Huskies.

Like every week, TrojanSports.com delivers the 10 most significant observations, takeaways, critiques and criticisms from USC's performance.

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All week I was apprehensive about how Matt Fink would play against a Washington secondary with a week to prepare for him, and most of my worries came to fruition Saturday. Faced with the mixed coverages utilized by Washington, Fink struggled to make decisions even with all day to throw. He threw into coverage, missed open receivers and threw some wildly inaccurate balls. Fink threw 32 passes for only 163 yards to go with 3 interceptions and a single touchdown. The Washington secondary dared Fink to pick them apart, rushing only three on most plays, and Fink couldn’t take advantage. Hard as he played, the gap between Fink and Kedon Slovis is easy to see. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the Trojans very possibly would’ve won this game with #9 at the helm.

Winning this game on the ground looked like a promising prospect all week long, and the three-man rush the Huskies kept sending dared the Trojans to do just that. For the first time this year, USC cycled through it’s three-back stable relatively evenly (7, 10 and 10 carries among Stephen Carr, Vavae Malepeai and Markese Stepp). Each of the backs produced at a high clip, including Stepp and Carr’s monster runs of 60 and 35 yards respectively in the second half that both looked like they might lead to Trojans touchdowns. This was easily the team's best performance on the ground, and it came on a day when it was most needed. If the passing game had simply finished drives the way it should have, again, this might have been a very different game.

Once again, the Trojan offensive line played a very good game in pass-protection. Fink was only sacked once and USC wasn’t called for a single hold. Despite the fact that the Huskies mostly sent only three rushers, they sent a variety of different blitz looks at the USC offensive line. The unit did well to handle almost all the looks UW sent at them, and they certainly aren’t to blame for the poor performance of the passing game yesterday.

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