A feel-good game for Sanchez

If only Mark Sanchez could play every game against a school from the northwestern-most state in the Lower 48.

A month ago, you may remember, Sanchez coughed up a hideous four-turnover effort against Arizona State.

The following week he went to Pullman, Wash., and, after five touchdowns, 253 yards and no interceptions against Washington State, got to feeling good about himself again.

What followed was a surprisingly unsteady performance in last week's white-knuckle win over Arizona.

Then came Saturday and a gray and windy late afternoon at the Coliseum, where Sanchez got his groove back by playing a team from the land of the eternal latte.

Sanchez played only one half and one series in this game -- a 56-0 beat-down of the inept Washington Huskies -- but that was time enough for him to add some real heft to his highlight reel.

His line against the Huskies: three touchdowns (two of them throwing), 167 yards, 15 of 19 passing, no picks.

Now come important questions: Can the curly-locked quarterback repeat his fine performance for four more regular-season games and a bowl? Will he finish on an upswing, the kind the No. 7-ranked Trojans must have to get the kind of hype that will move them toward a title tilt in Miami in January?

At game's end, Sanchez insisted he will duplicate Saturday's effort the rest of the way.

He described himself as having been through the fire over the last month and said he has emerged -- after much soul-searching and many discussions with his coaches about his tendency to be over-hyped and self-critical -- a better, calmer, more confident player.

"Coach Carroll really instilled that in me, just relaxing and not trying too hard," Sanchez said. He added that it wasn't just Carroll who helped. Yogi Roth, a USC quarterbacks coach, had come to him after last week. What kind of player do you really want to be, the coach asked.

"First thing that came to mind was, I want to win, I am a winner . . . that is what I want to do," Sanchez said. That's it, Roth replied, that's what you are, that's who you are. Be that, trust that, feel that way.

Something clicked. Sanchez told me he had never been asked this before, never really thought about how he defined himself. "It was just reassuring and refreshing," he said, knowing the coaches care about his emotions during an up-and-down season, his first as a starter.