Different stadium, different season.

Same kicker, same story.

Erik Folk hit a 32-yard field goal as time expired to lift Washington to a 32-31 victory over No. 18 USC Saturday at the Coliseum.

It was almost identical to a season ago when Folk hit a 22-yarder with three seconds left to give Washington the upset over then-No. 3 USC. The Washington win may not have been as shocking as it was a year ago, but it was just as debilitating for the Trojans (4-1).

“It’s very painful,” USC defensive tackle Jurrell Casey said. “It’s hard to explain how painful it is right now.”

USC had two opportunities to score fourth-quarter touchdowns but came up short both times.

“When you have the ball and you have a chance to finish, you can’t go and kick field goals,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said.

Down 29-28, quarterback Matt Barkley missed a wide-open David Ausberry in the endzone, the ball barley touching Ausberry’s outstretched fingertips. The Trojans settled for a 27-yard field goal by kicker Joe Houston and took the lead.

After stopping the Huskies on their next drive, the Trojans moved the ball inside the Washington 25-yardline. Barkley again missed an open receiver, this time tight end Jordan Cameron, on a third-down, so USC had to settle for another field goal try.

Only this time, Houston’s 40-yard attempt hit the right field goal post. Houston is 2-of-6 on field goal tries this year and has not made a kick longer than 34 yards.

“It felt good that’s for sure,” Houston said. “The second you look up it started tailing a little bit. Next thing you know it hits the upright.”

When asked if the kicker position would be reopened for competition, USC coach Lane Kiffin said, “Definitely.” Barkley said he was too focused on not throwing interceptions on those key third-down plays.

“I should have made those passes…,” he said. “I was more focused on not turning the ball over.”

Barkley finished 14-of-20 for 186 yards without a touchdown or an interception.

After Houston’s miss, Washington took over with 2:34 and quarterback Jake Locker marched the Huskies down the field to set up Folk’s winning kick. Locker completed a fourth-and-11 to D’Andre Goodwin to keep the Huskies alive. A few runs later by running back Chris Polk and Washington was in business.

Locker was again the driving force behind the Huskies’ upset. He amassed 426 total yards — 310 passing and 116 rushing — which accounted for nearly 80 percent of his team’s offense.

“I have 10 other guys around me that makes it a lot easier,” Locker said. “I’m proud of how we played.”

With Washington in range, Kiffin chose not to use any of his three timeouts to try to preserve time for a potential USC response. Kiffin said he was getting ready to use the timeouts but Washington was moving the ball too easily.

“We weren’t gonna stop them, we were dead,” Kiffin said.

Instead, Kiffin used two timeouts to try to ice Folk but to no avail. Folk rose to the occasion once again.

“I was just thinking about making it, I wasn’t thinking about the situation at all or what happened last year,” Folk said.

The game was a back-and-forth offensive affair with eight lead changes. Washington gained 537 total yards and USC was not far behind with 484.

USC got on the board first when Allen Bradford took a handoff and sped 37 yards untouched for a score. Then Washington responded with 17 unanswered points.

Washington came a yard away from scoring another first half touchdown, but USC cornerback Shareece Wright knocked the ball out of Locker’s arm before he crossed the goal line. The ball went out of bounds and into the endzone for a touchback.

Lost in the disappointment over the loss was the performance by Bradford, who rushed for a career high 224 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries. After a third-quarter fumble by starter Marc Tyler, Bradford got the bulk of the carries and made the most of it.

But Washington slowed Bradford down enough, making the Trojans throw on those two important third downs. The Trojans now will try to shift focus to their big game next week at Stanford, but Kiffin hopes they will take a lesson from this game.

“The hope is that our players learn from this,” Kiffin said. “That we have to finish people off.”