COLUMN: QB Matt Fink struggles as USC stumbles in loss at Washington
SEATTLE -- College football is a tough business. One week's high can all too often be followed by another week's low. It's a game of momentum and moments.
Redshirt junior quarterback Matt Fink's moment was last Friday night vs. Utah -- and decidedly not this chilly Saturday afternoon on the road in Husky Stadium.
Fink couldn't recapture the magic of his memorable performance off the bench against the Utes, when the lobs downfield almost always dropped in the right spot and the adrenaline of a rocking Coliseum crowd carried him to a night he'll always remember.
Saturday brought a game the Trojans and their third-string quarterback would surely like to quickly forget.
Fink tossed 3 interceptions -- one to give Washington short field for an eventual touchdown in the first quarter, another at the goal line in the third quarter to undermine comeback hopes and one in the fourth to effectively end the game -- and the No. 17 Huskies capitalized on each and every opportunity on the way to a 28-14 win over No. 21 USC.
With that, USC's latest attempt at momentum is reset and the Trojans (3-2, 2-1 Pac-12) will enter the bye week again needing to regroup before an even more daunting road game at Notre Dame in two weeks.
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"We had an opportunity to really come away with a win today, and we let that go today," Trojans coach Clay Helton said in the postgame press conference, as Fink -- seated next to him -- bowed his head at that comment.
Fink was a terrific story of persistence and inner belief against Utah, when he came off the bench on the third play of the game and passed for 351 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT after attempting only 18 passes previously in his USC career. With Kedon Slovis still sidelined by the concussion he took in the opening moments of that game, Fink was the team's only healthy scholarship QB this week and the fear all along was that the good fortune within his last performance would be tough to replicate -- and that some of those risky throws would become more punishing.
That's indeed how it played out as Fink finished 19 -of-32 passing for 163 yards, 1 TD and the 3 picks Saturday.
"What came down to it was my decision-making, and it wasn't the best, obviously. The ball was turned over way too much and they capitalized on just about each and every one of them, which did not help at all," Fink said, trying to keep his emotions in check.
It also didn't help that he was sitting right next to Helton in the post-game media session as the coach broke down the game and where it went off tracks.
"I thought our week of preparation was very good, I thought we came in with the right mindset. We made enough mistakes to the lose the game," Helton said.
Washington (4-1, 1-1) jumped ahead on its second series, taking advantage of prime field position after sacking Fink back to the USC 11-yard line on third down. After a 35-yard Ben Griffiths punt and an 11-yard return, the Huskies took possession at the Trojans' 35 and scored 5 plays later on a 1-yard Richard Newton touchdown run.
On the next series, Fink tossed a bad interception way off the mark over the head of Drake London and into the hands of Cameron Williams. After a 14-yard return, the Huskies started the ensuing drive at the USC 38 and needed just four plays and some good luck to find the end zone again as Salvon Ahmed fumbled into the end zone (forced by Max Williams) where his teammate Andre Baccellia recovered it for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
The USC defense kept the Trojans in this game as long as it could. That unit later pinned Washington back to its own goal line, forcing a punt and giving the offense the ball at the host's 39. Fink capped that drive with a 3-yard touchdown keeper on third down.
Two Peyton Henry field goals made it a 20-7 game by the early part of the third quarter, but USC still very much had a shot.
Especially when Stephen Carr busted a 60-yard run and the offense got all the way to the Washington 10 a few plays later. This would be the pivotal moment Saturday -- not the Carr run, but what soon followed.
On second-and-4 from the 10, Fink had the option to hand it off or look to pass it. He chose the latter and failed to loft it over Washington’ Elijah Molden, who easily secured the interception in front of intended target Michael Pittman for the costly pick.
"It was just a bad read. I should have handed the ball off -- that's on me," Fink said.
"Yeah, I probably would have handed it off, but you know again I've got to go watch the film to know for sure, but yeah," offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said. "That was a big play and I felt like that changed the game big time. Going in with all the momentum, we're moving the ball and then we turn it over, give them some momentum and they hit a big run. Again, you just can't afford that against a good football team."
Indeed, two plays after the back-breaking turnover Ahmed rushed 89 yards for a gut-punching touchdown. Instead of scoring a TD to make it a one-score game, USC was suddenly down 28-7 midway through the third quarter.
Harrell referenced that moment multiple times in talking to reporters afterward -- it really was the what-if moment Saturday. (Aside from the what if Slovis -- or JT Daniels -- were available question.)
"You can't turn the ball over three times -- you just can't do it," Harrell said. "Especially going in, to me that flipped the momentum and changed the whole game. You turn it over going in and then they hit you for a long run right after that and the whole momentum flipped. You just can't do it."
The game wasn't over, but it sure felt like it.
Fink hit Pittman for a 44-yard touchdown on the next series as the senior standout got behind the defense to make it 28-14, but there would be no comeback -- even as the defense continued to provide opportunities.
The Trojans forced QB Jacob Eason into a third-down incompletion and a punt early in the fourth quarter. And when USC, pinned at it goal line, couldn't do anything with that, the Trojans' Chris Steele recovered a fumble on a sloppy ball exchange by Washington to give the visitors possession at their own 43 (after a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty assessed to injured safety Talanoa Hufanga from the sideline).
That drive ended with a punt after four plays, the next USC series ended with a turnover on downs after setting up first-and-goal at the Washington 7 and the final Trojans series ended with Fink's final interception -- again to Williams at the 1 (on a play that started at the 27).
"I thought the second half we did a lot of good things offensively, we moved the ball and then didn't finish drives -- and mainly because of turnovers. You can't do that," Harrell said.
Said Helton: "It felt to me, if you get the ball in the end zone the two times you got it inside the 10-yard line, this is maybe a different ballgame."
It's a fair thought. USC did rush for 212 yards and a TD, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. The defense did mostly contain Eason, who completed just 16 of 26 passes for 180 yards. Aside from the 89-yard run immediately following Fink's goal line interception, the Trojans defense did its part.
But this team -- this program -- is no longer in the position for what-ifs and could-have-beens. The fan base won't allow that, not after 5-7 last season. Not after dropping a winnable game at BYU. And not even on a day where the third-string QB played like a third-string QB and the defense was missing its best safety (Hufanga) and its best cornerback (Olaijah Griffin).
This is a prove-it season for Helton and this regime, with the consensus perception being that he has little leeway with which to navigate. Despite all the circumstances in play, this loss will be viewed through that prism -- and added to Helton's 12-16 career record away from the Coliseum since he took over in 2015 and 8-9 record overall since the start 2018.
Again, college football is a tough business -- a lot can change from one week to the next. A lot did for the Trojans over the last eight days. Momentum is tenuous, but then again everything seems tenuous for this program nowadays.
Except for Helton's relentless optimism, that is.
It worked coming off that BYU loss as he got his team ready to beat a then-No. 10 Utah squad. And Helton was sticking to that playbook Saturday evening in assessing where his Trojans stand heading into their bye week.
"I told those guys in the locker room that that's a team that you can see again come December if you do your job," he said. "They're a very good football team, as well as we [are] -- and this is our first conference loss, to a North opponent. And we've got the opportunity to go back, make the corrections and have the opportunity to go win the Pac-12 South and hopefully meet them again."
All of that is true -- and for Helton's sake, it probably needs to come to fruition.
But after a flicker of renewed optimism last week, the spark within the fan base -- to whatever degree it had re-ignited -- fizzled again on this cold afternoon in Seattle.
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