Things getting interesting for the Huskies

[chipdouglas]

Things are getting interesting for the UW. They have 3 games left and must win 2 to go bowling.

They have @ASU - who also needs to win 2 of 3 to go bowling, so that should be a dogfight which I see ASU winning due to UW's terrible passing offense - and then @OSU which they should win going away, and finally they get us at home.

I think it's likely that UW's bowl hopes come down to winning the Apple Cup. They will already be playing for pride, for the rivalry, and to defend home field... I expect having a bowl game as the carrot dangling in front of them will make them play their best game of the year by far. Though they might only be 5-6 at that point, I expect us to have to bring a Stanford-type effort to win, given all those other factors. Look for them to lean heavily on the run - including QB - and focus on jamming our receivers and limiting YAC. I expect them to be so desperate here they will test the refs early to see how they're going to call holding and DPI. God help us if they're calling it lax, because they will hack us all day long. We will have to have fewer than 2-3 drops to win IMO, and must make them earn rushing yards like never before.

Or we could just blow them out, but I'm not expecting that.

P.S. Yeah we won bowl eligibility less than 24 hours ago and there are now 2 threads about the UW. But c'mon, how can you not lick your chops at the prospect of being THE team to shut UW out of bowl season? And I'm confident we will focus less on what our rivals are doing when we start rattling off 9- and 10-win seasons...

 

[froropmkr72]

Things are getting interesting for the UW. They have 3 games left and must win 2 to go bowling.

They have @ASU - who also needs to win 2 of 3 to go bowling, so that should be a dogfight which I see ASU winning due to UW's terrible passing offense - and then @OSU which they should win going away, and finally they get us at home.

I think it's likely that UW's bowl hopes come down to winning the Apple Cup. They will already be playing for pride, for the rivalry, and to defend home field... I expect having a bowl game as the carrot dangling in front of them will make them play their best game of the year by far. Though they might only be 5-6 at that point, I expect us to have to bring a Stanford-type effort to win, given all those other factors. Look for them to lean heavily on the run - including QB - and focus on jamming our receivers and limiting YAC. I expect them to be so desperate here they will test the refs early to see how they're going to call holding and DPI. God help us if they're calling it lax, because they will hack us all day long. We will have to have fewer than 2-3 drops to win IMO, and must make them earn rushing yards like never before.

Or we could just blow them out, but I'm not expecting that.

P.S. Yeah we won bowl eligibility less than 24 hours ago and there are now 2 threads about the UW. But c'mon, how can you not lick your chops at the prospect of being THE team to shut UW out of bowl season? And I'm confident we will focus less on what our rivals are doing when we start rattling off 9- and 10-win seasons...

Actually...it's just one thread. The other was started on the 2nd. The previous thread was someone expressing a desire for their team to win the rest of their games and then something about oats or how great uw is.

 

[Coug1990]

Petersen likes to run trick plays. I expect him to pull out all the stops`and run a lot of trick plays in the Apple Cup.

 

[chipdouglas]

Petersen likes to run trick plays. I expect him to pull out all the stops`and run a lot of trick plays in the Apple Cup.

Agreed. This should be their Boise-est game yet. If we win, I can't wait to see the offseason hysteria unfold. Can you even imagine?

 

[chipdouglas]

Actually...it's just one thread. The other was started on the 2nd. The previous thread was someone expressing a desire for their team to win the rest of their games and then something about oats or how great uw is.

Nobody's putting you on blast. Just pointing out that there are 2 trending threads talking about UW in the title the day after a huge Coug win. The intent and timing of the OP matter little in light of its title and what it has turned into.

In any event, unless you're not a real Cougar fan, there is NEVER a bad time to dwell on Husky misery.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

'90, you are right about the trick plays. One of our potential weaknesses all season has been over-pursuit. I'm expecting at least 2 and more likely 3 garbage plays, and at least one will probably be wildly successful. Even with that, we'll win if we play a complete game…but we have to be in it mentally for the entire game, or it could get ugly.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Petersen likes to run trick plays. I expect him to pull out all the stops`and run a lot of trick plays in the Apple Cup.

He found out the hard way against Utah that this is not the MWC.

The athletes are faster and stronger. And he faces that reality every conference game.

 

[425cougfan]

Things are getting interesting for the UW. They have 3 games left and must win 2 to go bowling.

They have @ASU - who also needs to win 2 of 3 to go bowling, so that should be a dogfight which I see ASU winning due to UW's terrible passing offense - and then @OSU which they should win going away, and finally they get us at home.

I think it's likely that UW's bowl hopes come down to winning the Apple Cup. They will already be playing for pride, for the rivalry, and to defend home field... I expect having a bowl game as the carrot dangling in front of them will make them play their best game of the year by far. Though they might only be 5-6 at that point, I expect us to have to bring a Stanford-type effort to win, given all those other factors. Look for them to lean heavily on the run - including QB - and focus on jamming our receivers and limiting YAC. I expect them to be so desperate here they will test the refs early to see how they're going to call holding and DPI. God help us if they're calling it lax, because they will hack us all day long. We will have to have fewer than 2-3 drops to win IMO, and must make them earn rushing yards like never before.

Or we could just blow them out, but I'm not expecting that.

P.S. Yeah we won bowl eligibility less than 24 hours ago and there are now 2 threads about the UW. But c'mon, how can you not lick your chops at the prospect of being THE team to shut UW out of bowl season? And I'm confident we will focus less on what our rivals are doing when we start rattling off 9- and 10-win seasons...

Agree with every word here, including your thoughts on the Apple Cup itself. That's going to be a war. While I almost never root for UW to win, from a pure Apple Cup result perspective, part of me wants UW to beat ASU and OSU so it already has bowl eligibility locked up. On the other hand, while that would remove their backs from the wall, it also could give them some confidence and momentum. No matter what happens, the Apple Cup is going to be an intense battle that should be one of our toughest games of the year. Even aside from the subjective mindset stuff that I'm posting about here, I don't see UW as a great matchup for us.

 

[HHusky]

He found out the hard way against Utah that this is not the MWC.

The athletes are faster and stronger. And he faces that reality every conference game.

In reality, the Husky D was better and Utah got stoned except when they got to start in the red zone or scored on defense. That Husky defense is not only a Pac-12 defense, it's probably the best Pac-12 defense.

The offense was terrible, but we still could have won without an absolutely non-existent offensive PI call and a couple of questionable holding calls.

I am worried about the Cougar fifth down offense, of course.

 

[chipdouglas]

In reality, the Husky D was better and Utah got stoned except when they got to start in the red zone or scored on defense. That Husky defense is not only a Pac-12 defense, it's probably the best Pac-12 defense.

The offense was terrible, but we still could have won without an absolutely non-existent offensive PI call and a couple of questionable holding calls.

I am worried about the Cougar fifth down offense, of course.

You know what the greatest thing about the fifth down is?

5 years from now, only Huskies will talk about the 5th down. The rest of the football world will remember a Cougar win

 

[425cougfan]

You know what the greatest thing about the fifth down is?

5 years from now, only Huskies will talk about the 5th down. The rest of the football world will remember a Cougar win

It's not like WSU won the game by less than a TD margin, in any case. It won the game by 14 points. Might the game have been different if WSU was stonewalled on that 4th down? Maybe, but we'll never know. Maybe Bercovici throws a pick on the next play. What we do know is that one could argue pretty reasonably that the gaffe gave WSU 7 points in a game it won by 14.

Contrast that with the errors that have gone against WSU in losses by less than a single score. WSU has not, in fact, lost a single game this year by more than one score.

UW, on the other hand, had a member of its media proudly tweet out, following the 17-point loss to Stanford, that the last season in which UW hadn't lost a game by more than 17 points was way back in 2000. Go Dawgs!

 

[HHusky]

You know what the greatest thing about the fifth down is?

5 years from now, only Huskies will talk about the 5th down. The rest of the football world will remember a Cougar win

I don't know that anyone will talk about it or remember it in 5 years.

 

[chipdouglas]

I don't know that anyone will talk about it or remember it in 5 years.

I grew up in Seattle and still count a dozen Mutt fans as friends. If I know them - and I do - they will talk about it. So will I.

 

[chipdouglas]

It's not like WSU won the game by less than a TD margin, in any case. It won the game by 14 points. Might the game have been different if WSU was stonewalled on that 4th down? Maybe, but we'll never know. Maybe Bercovici throws a pick on the next play. What we do know is that one could argue pretty reasonably that the gaffe gave WSU 7 points in a game it won by 14.

Contrast that with the errors that have gone against WSU in losses by less than a single score. WSU has not, in fact, lost a single game this year by more than one score.

UW, on the other hand, had a member of its media proudly tweet out, following the 17-point loss to Stanford, that the last season in which UW hadn't lost a game by more than 17 points was way back in 2000. Go Dawgs!

We were talking about "if" WSU had a repeat "5th down" play in the Apple Cup. At least I was.

 

[425cougfan]

We were talking about "if" WSU had a repeat "5th down" play in the Apple Cup. At least I was.

Ah, now I get it. I was going to be impressed if even Huskies were talking about the 5th down against ASU that long from now. I will, however, admit to griping about UW's 2010 bowl eligibility being made possible by Brock Mansion giving the worst quarterback performance I had seen since Aaron Corp a year prior.

(I was going down that road while talking about how coming back from being 3-6 to making a bowl helped out that program ... earlier in the year, I naively thought those considerations might be relevant to WSU this year.)

 

[Suudy]

For my part (and call me a Cougar heretic if you like), the perfect season is both WSU and UW go undefeated until the AC. And then, of course, we crush them.