Granted, it certainly wasn’t Tyrone Willingham bad.

But the unremitting stream of sports clichés served up by UW head coach Steve Sarkisian and quarterback Jake Locker this week was so predictable you’d swear anyone but third-ranked Southern California was Saturday’s opponent.

Good thing a couple of Sarkisian’s players had already thrown reporters a bone last Saturday evening to make this week’s talk of each game carrying the same weight and the team needing to take things one game at a time much more bearable.

“I think that once the kickoff comes and goes, it’s just going to be football,’’ Sarkisian said.

Maybe, but not for starting tailback Chris Polk. The chatty Redlands, Calif. native is still simmering over the reaction fans and those around the USC program displayed when he backed out of a verbal agreement with USC and decided on Washington instead, he said Saturday following UW’s 42-23 win over Idaho.

Saturday is the first chance Polk will get to take on the Trojans, having had the fortune of missing last year’s 56-0 drubbing because of season-ending shoulder surgery.

Among Polk’s biggest points of contention is a Photoshopped image that’s been making its way around USC fan sites. It features his face on the body of Al Bundy, a TV sitcom character who once played football at Polk High School on the television show “Married With Children” only to become a miserable shoe salesman later on.

Ouch.

“It’s a little personal battle for me,” he told reporters.

Then there were the comments of cornerback Quinton Richardson, who swept up in the euphoria of winning for the first time in 664 days, guaranteed a win.

Asked if he was concerned about giving the Trojans any bulletin board material, Richardson told the Everett Herald: “Nah. No bulletin board material. We’re just going to keep it all on the field and talk with our pads.”

Much less surprising was the announcement that came down shortly thereafter. Both Polk and Richardson would be unavailable for interviews the rest of the week — muzzled.

“The natural thing is to want to feel all the pats on your back and talk about it,” Sarkisian said Wednesday. “The real challenge is to remain humble, and it’s a long season. Week in and week out you never know.”

In other words, don’t be like Keith Lewis, the Oregon safety who in 2003 guaranteed the Ducks would beat up on the Huskies. Washington ended up winning 42-10 and Lewis was banned from speaking to the media by then-coach Mike Bellotti.

Luckily for Lewis, no Al Bundy references would follow.

Reach reporter Maks Goldenshteyn at sports@dailyuw.com.