Here's my game story.

That was a bad game, and none of the Huskies were saying otherwise.

However, while coach Tyrone Willingham indicated that part of the problem might have been disruption from the announcement that he'll leave at the end of the season, the players said that wasn't a distraction but rather an incentive to play well for their coach.

However, none could quite square that with the 56-0 result.

The players all also supported Willingham's decision to try for a touchdown in the fourth quarter rather than take a short field goal to get that zero off the board. Willingham said the team wanted to go for the TD, and the team agreed and said they apprecaited his confident in them.

Other highlights:

Player of the game
USC quarterback Mark Sanchez completed 15 of 19 passes for 167 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. And he accomplished all that in little more than a half, as he called it a night after USC’s first possession of the third quarter. Sanchez has now thrown for at least one touchdown in all 11 of his career starts.

Husky of the game
Senior linebacker Trenton Tuiasosopo recorded a game-high 12 tackles, including seven solo tackles.

Turning point
USC scored touchdowns on its first six possessions. Meanwhile, it took the Huskies six possessions to manage their first first down.

Hustle play
Midway through the third quarter, senior defensive tackle Johnie Kirton got a tackle after catching USC tailback C.J. Gable from behind 50 yards down field.
“I’m not surprised, because I know that Johnie can run,” defensive coordinator Ed Donatell said. “That’s why we’ve got him over there. His thing is to see how good a defensive lineman he can be by the end of the year.”

Alone at the bottom
Washington’s loss, coupled with North Texas’ win over Western Kentucky, leaves the Huskies as the only remaining winless team of the 119 that make up the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. UW also is in sole possession of the nation’s longest current losing streak: 10 games.

Injury report
Injuries pushed safety Tripper Johnson and cornerback Matt Moseley into the starting lineup. Defensive tackle Cameron Elisara left the game with a shoulder injury. Donatell said he doesn’t believe it is serious. Mesphin Forrester missed the game with a knee injury. Receiver Cody Bruns went to the sideline after suffering a hard hit to the head.

Extra points
Combined with Washington State’s 58-0 loss at Stanford, the Washington schools were outscored 114-0 on Saturday. … USC is now 24-0 all-time in the month of November under coach Pete Carroll. … This was USC’s third shutout of the season. However, the Huskies were shut out for the first time since a 38-0 loss at USC in 2001. This also was the Huskies worst loss since a 65-7 drubbing at Miami in 2001, and their worst shutout loss since a 58-0 beating at Oregon in 1973. … UW captains are Juan Garcia, Mike Gottlieb, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and Donald Butler. … There were light showers early in the game. Temperature was 73 degrees at kickoff.

Next
4 p.m. Saturday, Arizona State at Husky Stadium.

Here's my game story.

Heading down: I'm heading down for what are sure to be some unhappy interviews. I'll be back with notes and quotes. Any chance this looked any better on TV than it did from here?

Ty rejects FG: Facing fourth and one from within field goal range, Willingham decided to pass on the field goal that could have ended the shutout. The Huskies got the first, but then Ronnie Fouch threw an interception that keeps the zero on the scoreboard. Brave decision or foolish?

End of three: Huskies are at the SC 19 and therefore perhaps in position to get a fourth-quarter scored to avoid a shutout for the second straight week.

5:24 of the third: USC, on its first series with No. 2 QB Mitch Mustain, marched in for a TD making it 49-0

Huskies left alone: North Texas just defeated Western Kentucky, 51-40, leaving UW as the only winless team in the 119-team NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and well on their way to being the sole owner of the nation's longest losing streak: 10 games.

Halftime: As I type this, WSU is trailing Stanford 58-0, meaning the Washington schools are down a combined 100-0.

The Trojans lead in first downs, 18-2, in rushing yardage 158-10, in passing yardage 167-25 and in total yards, 325-35.

3:04 of the second: A long workmanlike drive puts USC ahead, 42-0. However, UW got its first first down on its last possession, picking up some applause from the Coliseum crowd.

9:06 of the second: A Ronnie Fouch pass was intercepted, and SC covered the needed 16 yards on two runs. SC, 35-0.

(At this moment, Stanford is leading WSU 51-0, meaning the Washington teams are trailing right now by a combined 86-0.)

(Meanwhile, North Texas -- the only other winless team in the FBS -- is up in the fourth quarter.)

10:37 of second: UW stopped SC on fourth and goal at the one. However, a Husky lined up offsides, and SC scored on its next try. It's that kind of day. Or maybe just that kind of team.

End of first quarter: USC, 21-0. Huskies have four three-and-out possessions for a total of 14 yards.

3:31 of the first:Trojans went 33 yards in two plays. SC, 21-0.

UW had 10 yards on nine plays and no first downs.

4:28 of the first: Quinton Richardson bit big-time on a pump and go, which resulted in a 32-yrd SC TD.

10:14 of the first: UW offense went three and out. USC went 57 yards in nine plays, with QB Mark Sanches completing five of five.

Kickoff: USC won the toss and elected to defer. UW will receive to start the game... giving them an early look at the nation's best defense.

Three UW lineup changes: Jermaine Kearse starting at wide receiver, Tripper Johnson at safety and Matt Moseley at cornerback.

UW captains are Juan Garcia, Mike Gottlieb, Daniel Te'o-Nesheim and Donald Butler.

It doesn't seem to be raining now, but it looks like we'll have off and on showers. It's also breezy. Temperature is 73 degrees.

2:40: Less than an hour until kickoff and it's raining.

2:15 Uh-oh. North Texas -- the only winless FBS team other than Washington -- has taken a lead in the first quarter of its game today against Western Kentucky.

2:05: I haven't seen the UW travel roster yet, but
we are told that safety Victor Aiyewa (groin) and corner Mesphin Forrester (knee)did not make the trip, so that's a couple of would-be-starters out of the secondary against the top pass-efficiency quarterback in the Pac-10.

2 p.m. The Trojans are in the house. They arrive with a bit of fanfare here. A victory bell is rung and they walk down a ramp into the stadium from the side that once held the Olympic flame. Then they walk onto the field and huddle at midfield.

The drama of the whole thing is cut a big because the huge stadium is empty except for what ahhears to be a thousand or so folks in the student section and just the smallest dotting of fans spread out across the rest of the place.

Anyway, the Trojans are heading up the tunnel to the locker room now.

1:50: There are a lot of clowns around the stadium today, and I mean that literally. LA celebrates Halloween like no town I've ever seen. Last night there was a huge party in West Hollywood -- I mean like downtown Seattle for the Seafair parade -- and apparently it wasn't enough, because there are lots of folks in costume here today.

I got here early -- even ahead of the traffic, which I thought was impossible in LA -- and spent an hour or so walking around the stadium and the USC campus a block or so away. It's homecoming, so there's lots of tailgating and the rest. Nice gameday atmosphere.

Plus, I just like this stadium. You can see the "Hollywood" sign from the press box. And, of course, there's all the history. And then, wandering over to the main entrance, you're reminded what history really is. There are two blocks of stone: one from the Roman Coliseum, and one from an ancient Olympic site in Greece.

The block from the Coliseum seems to be a solid block of stone. But the Athens block seems some sort of concrete-like mix. You look at it closely, and its dotted with seashells. And you just look at them and wonder how old they are, where they came from, what ancient human placed the block. Amazing stuff.

If any of you travel with the Huskies now and then, and haven't done the Coliseum yet, I recommend it highly.

(That said, I haven't really noticed any traces of the ongoing renovation that was promised to keep the Trojans here.)

Finally, we'll do our normal gameday blogging. I'll pop in here with pregame news as it develops, then keep a running blog through the game, then I'll go dark while going down for postgame notes and quotes. Then I'll return with a final post.

The game is on FSN. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m.

I belatedly got around to skimming though USA Today's NBA preview section, which published on Tuesday.

It has a story on the Sonics' move to Oklahoma City, which includes a comparison chart of the two cities.

Under "National/professional titles" for OKC it lists the seven Oklahoma college football titles (even though the university is in Norman, 23 miles away.) However, for Seattle, it lists the Sonics 1979 NBA title and even the Storm's 2004 WNBA title, but nothing about those 1991 Huskies ... or -- more understandably -- the 1960 Huskies.

Under "Famous athletes" the OKC chart lists Jim Thorpe and Barry Sanders and Mickey Mantle, while the Seattle list once again is Husky-free: Steve Largent, Ken Griffey Jr. and Lenny Wilkins.

The preseason Associated Press and ESPN men's basketball rankings are out now.

The Huskies received 18 votes, good for a No. 35 rankings, in the mendia poll, and eight votes, good for a No. 38 ranking in the coaches' poll.