'We continue to win': Washington outlasts USC at the Coliseum
Dillon Johnson runs wild as Huskies stay unbeaten
LOS ANGELES — The magnitude of a road victory often correlates with the amount of time the visiting team spends on the field afterward, and indeed, the Washington Huskies reveled in this one just a little longer than usual.
What does it say, after all, when the university president hugs the receivers coach on the sideline?
There was little worry about the Huskies’ defense on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum grass afterward, no hand-wringing over whether the College Football Playoff committee might punish this still-unbeaten UW team for allowing too many points in victory. Someone handed Michael Penix Jr. an enlarged cardboard cutout of his own face, and the quarterback carried it with him as he returned to the field to celebrate, the legion of road-tripping UW fans chanting “Heisman” as he slapped high-fives, not so far from the six jersey numbers USC has retired to honor its own winners of the sport’s most prestigious award.
That the Huskies won, 52-42, on the road against the No. 20 USC Trojans — and did so by running the ball at will, and by bothering Caleb Williams just enough — resonated beyond any stylistic matters, even if many will earnestly wonder whether Washington’s defense might eventually cost it the opportunity to compete for a national championship.