Huskies throttle Trojans in L.A.
Washington beats ex-coach Sarkisian with stout defense
Myles Gaskin ran for 134 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown, and Washington shut down No. 17 USC’s high-powered offense throughout a 17-12 victory over the Trojans on Thursday night in Los Angeles.
Receiver Marvin Hall threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Joshua Perkins on a trick play early in the second half for the Huskies (3-2, 1-1 Pac-12), who beat former coach Steve Sarkisian in a defense-dominated meeting. Washington beat a ranked team for the first time under second-year coach Chris Petersen.
Cody Kessler had two interceptions while passing for just 156 yards on a disastrous night for the Trojans (3-2, 1-2), the popular preseason pick to win the conference.
Instead, USC couldn’t score a touchdown until Ronald Jones II’s short run with 12:02 to play.
Washington’s defense then came up with two late stops, and the Trojans missed a field goal with 3:44 left.
Maryland: The school says Randy Edsall will coach the Terrapins at topranked Ohio State amid reports that he will be fired.
“Randy Edsall is our head football coach and he’ll be on the sidelines Saturday against Ohio State,” the school said in a statement.
Maryland is 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten this season, Edsall’s fifth at the school. He’s 22-33 overall at Maryland after going 74-70 in 12 seasons at Connecticut.
Tennessee: Chancellor Jimmy Cheek is “very confident” there was “no inappropriate conduct” between Volunteers coach Butch Jones and a player.
While speaking to the board of trustees, Cheek said there were rumors and misinformation about “an alleged incident during football practice.” The chancellor said he and athletic director Dave Hart have “done our due diligence” on this matter.
Cheek was responding to message board discussions and reports that Jones had a “physical altercation” with center Mack Crowder during a preseason practice. Jones said the allegation was “absolutely ridiculous.”
Without specifically addressing the allegations, Crowder sent out three separate tweets saying he was “proud “and “honored” to be part of Tennessee’s program.
South Carolina: Freshman Lorenzo Nunez’s shoulder injury has led to the latest quarterback switch for South Carolina and coach Steve Spurrier.
Spurrier said former walk-on Perry Orth will start against No. 7 LSU on Saturday because Nunez had not practiced much this week after injuring his shoulder at Missouri.
Orth, a junior, started at Georgia three weeks ago in a 52-20 loss. Nunez took over the following week and also started in a loss at Missouri.
Connor Mitch, who began the season as the starter, remains out with a separated shoulder he suffered in a loss to Kentucky last month.
The Gamecocks (2-3, 0-3 Southeastern Conference) had their home game with LSU (4-0, 2-0) shifted to Louisiana because of flooding in South Carolina.
Illinois: The team said starting running back Josh Ferguson will miss the Illini’s game Saturday at No. 22 Iowa because of a shoulder injury suffered against Nebraska.
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