Much has been made recently about the possibility that, for multiple reasons, UW has a good chance to beat USC Saturday.

Some of those reasons are legitimate concerns for USC, but do the Huskies really have a good chance?

There is an obvious mismatch in terms of talent, but a variety of other reasons exist to give UW some momentum.

The injuries — however non-serious they are — to quarterback Matt Barkley and safety Taylor Mays might limit the Trojans come game time. They’ll play, but they might be taking things a little easy against the Huskies, which could tip the scales in UW’s favor by a few ticks.

Somewhat related to these injuries was a tough road game at Ohio State the week before. It is possible USC spent much of its energy trying to beat the No. 10 Buckeyes and must now wearily face a UW team that is anything but tired having played their first two games at home.

The Huskies also have an extremely improved Jake Locker. He could very well be the key to the game if the Huskies can’t accomplish anything on defense.

But the most intriguing reason that some are saying the Huskies have a chance to beat the Trojans is that UW head coach Steve Sarkisian, as former offensive coordinator at USC, likely has extensive knowledge of the Trojans’ schemes — both on offense and defense — as well as possesses knowledge of just about every player on their squad.

When asked whether his knowledge of USC coach Pete Carroll’s team or Carroll’s knowledge of Sarkisian could allow for surprises to happen, Sarkisian cautioned himself and his team against such thinking.

“If you look too deep, too far into something, if you’re searching for things, you can lose the scope of what your team does well,” Sarkisian said. “So we’ve got to be careful of that, that’s for sure.”

It’s a good mentality to have, especially for a first year coach like Sarkisian.

Regardless of whether he will have an advantage over Carroll today, Sarkisian isn’t getting caught up in the hype and his chill demeanor will keep him and his team level-headed against the Trojans. Besides, he’s gotten good results out of his team by preaching about executing their own game plan and not worrying too much about what the other team is planning.

A close loss to LSU that really should have been a win and a convincing offensive victory over Idaho — the defense wasn’t exactly stellar, though Sarkisian says it had to do with more freshmen playing and trying different things out — is considered a success given the absolute failure that was 2008.

“I was hoping to be 2-0,” Sarkisian said. “I like the effort that we’re playing with. I like our attention to detail. Are we perfect? No. But we are getting better as a football team.”

Yes, the Huskies are getting better and judging by his hope to be 2-0 at this point it’s clear that his motto of “expect to win” is still in full force.

Some of his players — namely Quinton Richardson — have taken up his mantra. And after losing seven in a row to USC, why not?

The odds aren’t in the Huskies’ favor, but there are enough reasons to like them against USC.

Besides, it sure beats expecting to lose.

Reach columnist Allen Wagner at sports@dailyuw.com.