Huskies upset No. 18 USC with last-second field goal

LOS ANGELES – It’s dead.

And the Washington Huskies have life.

The UW football team ended a 13-game road losing streak in dramatic fashion Saturday night, beating 18th-ranked USC 32-31 with Erik Folk’s last-second field goal from 32 yards out.

UCLA coach Lane Kiffin called two timeouts to try to ice Folk.

It marked the second year in a row that Folk has beaten the Trojans with a field goal, the second year in a row that the Huskies have upset a ranked USC team and the first time UW has won a road game since Nov. 3, 2007.

“It proves to the guys that, yeah, we can win on the road, and we can beat a good football team,” Huskies middle linebacker Cort Dennison said. “It’s a great start (to the Pac-10 schedule). We aren’t happy with where we are – there are things we definitely need to work on – but we’re happy with the win.”

The victory breathed new life into a season that was on the brink of disaster for the Huskies (2-2, 1-0 Pac-10). The last-second field goal kicked off a celebration that didn’t have quite the attendance of last year’s upset – this was, after all, a road game – but had just as much excitement among the players.

“To have the team compete like that for four quarters and win like we did at the end, it’s awesome,” said Locker, who completed 24 of 40 passes for 310 yards and a touchdown while adding 110 rushing yards. “I’m just really proud of these guys.”

While the game included some good fortune in the final minutes – a misfired third-down pass to an open receiver forced the Trojans to attempt a field goal on their final drive, and USC kicker Joe Houston hit the right upright with 2:34 remaining – it was another legendary drive that put the Huskies on top in the end.

For the second year in a row, Locker engineered the winning drive – this time with a key fourth-down completion and a scramble to convert a third down and put UW in field-goal range.

UW’s final drive started with an incomplete pass, a near fumble after a USC defender hit Locker’s arm – only to have it end up in the hands of Huskies offensive lineman Cody Habben for a completion of minus-1 yard – and another incomplete pass on third-and-11.

Then Locker hit D’Andre Goodwin for the fourth-down completion, and the drive of the ages was off and running.

“We were just having fun,” Goodwin said. “The coaches prepare us for that situation all the time, so we’re ready for it. We do it all the time, so it’s just routine.”

The teams combined for 1,020 yards of total offense, including a season-high 536 from the Huskies. UW had to overcome 298 rushing yards from the Trojans and 223 from Allen Bradford.

But in the end, the Huskies’ offense had enough in the tank to get the final points when it mattered most.

“I told the guys before the game,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said late. “Let’s lead off SportsCenter tonight.”

When it comes to games between the Huskies and USC as of late, that’s been a pretty safe prediction.