Your most frustrating game to watch?

[chugspig]

2017 WSU vs Cal
Falks nightmarish meltdown. Cougs came in ranked in the top 10 I believe. Falk threw for 5 int, and Cals garbage QB did a 720 rodeo into the end zone. We pretty much did everything wrong we could at the worst moment and it looked like a bunch of middle schoolers high on ketamine playing a pro team. I almost broke my glass slider.

 

[dgibbons]

2017 WSU vs Cal
Falks nightmarish meltdown. Cougs came in ranked in the top 10 I believe. Falk threw for 5 int, and Cals garbage QB did a 720 rodeo into the end zone. We pretty much did everything wrong we could at the worst moment and it looked like a bunch of middle schoolers high on ketamine playing a pro team. I almost broke my glass slider.

Recently, 2018 AC.

Of all time, probably the 2002 AC.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Having seen defeat ripped from the jaws of victory waaaaaay too many times from my sports teams (Cougs/ Hawks/ Ms), I've developed retrograde amnesia in regards to these losses. In football we've lost inexplicably more times than I care to even try to remember.

 

[etowncoug]

2017 WSU vs Cal
Falks nightmarish meltdown. Cougs came in ranked in the top 10 I believe. Falk threw for 5 int, and Cals garbage QB did a 720 rodeo into the end zone. We pretty much did everything wrong we could at the worst moment and it looked like a bunch of middle schoolers high on ketamine playing a pro team. I almost broke my glass slider.

It started with Renard Bell housing a kickoff which got called back due to an irrelevant hold. Awful game.

 

[roses04]

Many, Cal with Faulk, UCLA last year, and this one at the half WSU 28 Utah 7, and no offense or defense in the 2nd half. Best half of football all year, followed by the worst half, in the same game.

 

[etowncoug]

Other contenders include:
2019 UCLA
2018 AC
2015 Portland St
2014 Nevada
2013 Oregon St
40 games from 2008-2011
All the collapses of the Doba era. 2006 Oregon St and Apple Cup still hurt.
2003 Notre Dame, AC
2002 AC
2001 AC, Oregon

 

[roses04]

1975 Apple Cup has to be one of the worst, the melt down against UCLA last year, is tops as far as the biggest lead ever lost.

 

[BiggsCoug]

2019 season. Total crap coaching top to bottom. Pissed away.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

All of these are good choices, but the losses to Idaho in '99 and 2000 (especially in 2000) also deserve mention.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Most frustrating half was the 2nd half against UCLA in 2019. It might be more because of how recent it was, but watching a 32 point lead evaporate was maddening to witness. The 2002 AC was the angriest that I've ever been watching the finish to a game. In terms of overall games, the worst that I've ever felt as a Coug was watching Pete Carroll do everything he could to be nice to us in 2008 and still win 69-0 for our first shutout loss in 24 years.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Most frustrating half was the 2nd half against UCLA in 2019. It might be more because of how recent it was, but watching a 32 point lead evaporate was maddening to witness. The 2002 AC was the angriest that I've ever been watching the finish to a game. In terms of overall games, the worst that I've ever felt as a Coug was watching Pete Carroll do everything he could to be nice to us in 2008 and still win 69-0 for our first shutout loss in 24 years.

Truly a selection that will live in infamy, Flat. I hate to congratulate you on your bad taste ( ), but that just seems appropriate, somehow....

 

[CougPatrol]

The 2002 Apple Cup is the only answer. It was exponentially worse if you attended it live.

 

[chugspig]

The 2002 Apple Cup is the only answer. It was exponentially worse if you attended it live.

I was there, but was 12. I loved WSU football a lot but I don’t think I could feel the type of enduring pain that comes from knowing what they missed in the moment.

 

[95coug]

I'm also going to throw in the 2012 Colorado game and 2006 Oregon State (Brink's senior day). Both of those were miserable.
2008 Cal - Jahvid Best goes 80 yards up the middle on the first play of the game in the home opener. And it got worse from there.
2005 Oregon or UCLA
2000 Apple cup
2001 (?) Oregon - when we were ranked like #10 and were undefeated in conference...but somehow we couldn't figure out how to tackle Onterrio Smith. I think that's also the game where Mike Bush got mugged in the endzone on what should have been the tying TD.
1994 Oregon State

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Other contenders include:
2019 UCLA
2018 AC
2015 Portland St
2014 Nevada
2013 Oregon St
40 games from 2008-2011
All the collapses of the Doba era. 2006 Oregon St and Apple Cup still hurt.
2003 Notre Dame, AC
2002 AC
2001 AC, Oregon

2013 OSU in seattle, right? Battle of wills between CML and CH? 3 straight picks?

 

[fingerdisco]

‘94 when The Posse was matched up against a really good Arizona D—heckling Teddy Bear Bruschi all game only to lose and have him come over to the student side and rub our noses in it kinda sucked.

 

[BiggsCoug]

How many of these games have had questionable calls in them???

I swear I've seen WSU lose more games on crap calls that I can count.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

The 2002 Apple Cup is the only answer. It was exponentially worse if you attended it live.

I was 12, and can confirm.

 

[cougcowboy]

The game Haliday set the record for passing yards. Special teams was not in prime form that evening if I remember correctly....

 

[COUGinNCW]

The game Haliday set the record for passing yards. Special teams was not in prime form that evening if I remember correctly....

2014 vs Cal. 59-60, missed walkoff 19 yard field goal. I still have PTSD every time there’s an important short FG.

 

[acgcoug]

The game Haliday set the record for passing yards. Special teams was not in prime form that evening if I remember correctly....

734 yards passing and our kicker missed a 20 some yard chip shot to win the game.

Felt so bad for Halliday. What a downer after setting those FBS records.

 

[Coug90]

Recently, 2018 AC.

Of all time, probably the 2002 AC.

Any of the ACs we lost in the 3X10 win seasons. Pretty sure lost all of them and light years better than UW in all 3.

 

[etowncoug]

2013 OSU in seattle, right? Battle of wills between CML and CH? 3 straight picks?

2011 was in Seattle. Had great seats on the 50. Figured we could grab another W as we had beaten them in Corvallis the year before. Only positive is that this embarrassment pushed Moos to look elsewhere.
2013 was in Pullman and I believe we lead at the half. Connor Halliday went on tilt and the game got out of control. Ended up a blowout.

 

[etowncoug]

734 yards passing and our kicker missed a 20 some yard chip shot to win the game.

Felt so bad for Halliday. What a downer after setting those FBS records.

I blocked that one from my memory.

 

[Coug90]

I was 12, and can confirm.

Fiesta to El Paso...have we had a bigger drop in bowl status from a single game before? If so would like to know. And UW was hot garbage that year, should have been a 30 point beat down.

 

[425cougfan]

Says a lot that we can have a thread like this with dozens of examples in the relatively recent past and nobody even has mentioned the 2013 New Mexico Bowl. No, not a major bowl, but it was our first bowl game in almost a decade and was a knee in the groin for the program and all of us as fans. I don't remember all of it but remember being frustrated by our offense and, of course, by our inability to hold a lead due to clock management issues.

In terms of most frustrating losses independently of the importance of the game, that 60-59 Cal loss and the UCLA loss in 2019 are tied for me. That Utah loss this past season sucked but it didn't have much significance. Nice sleepers called out by ETown on 2014 Nevada and 2015 Portland State. I remember watching those, amazed at how we couldn't just do what it took to beat those crap teams but also not surprised at all.

Accounting for importance of the game, the 2002 Apple Cup is up there.

 

[mikalalas]

Says a lot that we can have a thread like this with dozens of examples in the relatively recent past and nobody even has mentioned the 2013 New Mexico Bowl. No, not a major bowl, but it was our first bowl game in almost a decade and was a knee in the groin for the program and all of us as fans. I don't remember all of it but remember being frustrated by our offense and, of course, by our inability to hold a lead due to clock management issues.

In terms of most frustrating losses independently of the importance of the game, that 60-59 Cal loss and the UCLA loss in 2019 are tied for me. That Utah loss this past season sucked but it didn't have much significance. Nice sleepers called out by ETown on 2014 Nevada and 2015 Portland State. I remember watching those, amazed at how we couldn't just do what it took to beat those crap teams but also not surprised at all.

Accounting for importance of the game, the 2002 Apple Cup is up there.

The most frustrating thing about the New Mexico Loss vs Colorado St:

1. The about 2,3,4 Fumbles in the last 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and or the about, if any 1,2,3 int within the last 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and or the about if any punt or kickoff returns for a TD given up, an or the about 1, if any onside kick recovery that led to a FG, TD.

What could go wrong, did go wrong.

The wheels, etc, totally fell off.

WSU was definitely the Murphy of Murphy's law of All of College Footballdom that day, game.

WSU was up about 7 to 9 to 13 points that game with about 45 seconds to 90 seconds to 3 minutes left with it almost impossible to lose unless the unthinkable, extremely improbable, almost impossible happened.

Biggest WSU COUGED IT(SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM JAWS OF VICTORY IN WSU HISTORY), in all of WSU history in my opinion.

That game should definately make the Top 3 to top 5 to top 7 to top 10 of worst most frustrating WSU Football game of all time.

Also surprised the game hasnt been mentioned earlier

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Says a lot that we can have a thread like this with dozens of examples in the relatively recent past and nobody even has mentioned the 2013 New Mexico Bowl. No, not a major bowl, but it was our first bowl game in almost a decade and was a knee in the groin for the program and all of us as fans. I don't remember all of it but remember being frustrated by our offense and, of course, by our inability to hold a lead due to clock management issues.

In terms of most frustrating losses independently of the importance of the game, that 60-59 Cal loss and the UCLA loss in 2019 are tied for me. That Utah loss this past season sucked but it didn't have much significance. Nice sleepers called out by ETown on 2014 Nevada and 2015 Portland State. I remember watching those, amazed at how we couldn't just do what it took to beat those crap teams but also not surprised at all.

Accounting for importance of the game, the 2002 Apple Cup is up there.

For whatever reason, the finish to the New Mexico Bowl didn't bother me as much as it could have. I was in Vegas with my family and as the game got away from us, everyone else in the room got quieter and quieter as they watched the meltdown. After the game was done, I could sense everyone looking at me waiting for some anger and I was like, "Well, what's for dinner?" I wasn't happy but it wasn't that surprising to me that it happened.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

WSU was definitely the Murphy of Murphy's law of All of College Footballdom that day, game.

Mike, every now and then you stumble onto a gem. I liked this one:

"WSU was definitely the Murphy of Murphy's law of All of College Footballdom that day, game."

 

[CougPatrol]

With respect to frustration, the 2006 Apple Cup is another game that comes to mind. It wasn't a particularly memorable season for us, but again, sitting in Martin Stadium and watching Carl Bonnell and a hapless UW team that had lost 6 straight games come in and beat us was quite frustrating.

A win would have earned us a bowl game at 7-5 as well as a winning P10 record for the season. Instead, we did what we have done so well over the years. We allowed a kickoff return for a TD, a blocked punt for a TD, a 77 yard TD run, and a 64 yard TD pass. UW had only 14 first downs to our 26, and they gained only 380 yards (half of those on 2 big plays).

I had to read the game recap to recall all of the specifics, but I've always remembered this game. It was a laughable collection of big play blunders against a team that hadn't been able to score over 21 points against anyone all season. One of the many where the casual, glass half-full Coug fans sitting around me kept shouting things like "what's going on here guys," and me thinking "WTF do you think is going on here?"

 

[Flatlandcoug]

With respect to frustration, the 2006 Apple Cup is another game that comes to mind. It wasn't a particularly memorable season for us, but again, sitting in Martin Stadium and watching Carl Bonnell and a hapless UW team that had lost 6 straight games come in and beat us was quite frustrating.

A win would have earned us a bowl game at 7-5 as well as a winning P10 record for the season. Instead, we did what we have done so well over the years. We allowed a kickoff return for a TD, a blocked punt for a TD, a 77 yard TD run, and a 64 yard TD pass. UW had only 14 first downs to our 26, and they gained only 380 yards (half of those on 2 big plays).

I had to read the game recap to recall all of the specifics, but I've always remembered this game. It was a laughable collection of big play blunders against a team that hadn't been able to score over 21 points against anyone all season. One of the many where the casual, glass half-full Coug fans sitting around me kept shouting things like "what's going on here guys," and me thinking "WTF do you think is going on here?"

The 2006 Apple Cup is why I don't watch Apple Cups with anyone but my wife and kids. I watched that game with a co-worker and it was not a good experience. The "that sucks, man" comments from my co-worker happened way too often in that game. I don't need to share misery with folks.

 

[KRUSTYtheCOUG]

Look, there are SO many contenders. I think of a game from the early 80s (if i recall) in Pasadena where we hadn't won simce 1958. We are lining up to kick a game-winning field goal in the last half-minute (i think it was Jason Hansen) Well the snap goes over the holder and UCLA recovers in our territory and then proceeds to kick the winning fg.

How about the 1998 Rose Bowl? A game I firmly believe we win if Black doesn't get injured OR if we make one single 3rd and long stop on Michigan's go-ahead td drive in th 4th. You know, the drive where EVERY SINGLE conversion was by about an inch!!! That's all I have to say about that.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

Fiesta to El Paso...have we had a bigger drop in bowl status from a single game before? If so would like to know. And UW was hot garbage that year, should have been a 30 point beat down.

Fiesta to El Paso would never happen in today's world. I agree though.

 

[mikalalas]

Fiesta to El Paso would never happen in today's world. I agree though.

It did happen again.

Back then, the El Paso Sun Bowl was a lot bigger, more prestigous then it is now.

Back then going to the Sun Bowl was the Equivalent of 2018 going to the Alamo Bowl.

Either UW BLIZZARD or USC CHEAT SCANDAL caused WSU to go from either Playoff, Rosebowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, down to the equivalent of the 2002 Sun Bowl, in the Alamo Bowl.

That was just as big a drop, or the equivalent of the drop 2002 had.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Fiesta to El Paso would never happen in today's world. I agree though.

I wouldn't bet on that. The way that the Pac-12 bowl system is set up, the #2 to #4 bowls get to pick the team that they want that is within 1 game of the standings of the best team available. They do not have to go in order of overall record, head to head or any other tiebreaker. In 2001, the final standings would have looked something like this (assuming that CU and Utah didn't fall off dramatically in our conference)

#1 Oregon 7-1
#2 CU 7-1 (Big 12)
#3 WSU 6-2
#4 Stanford 6-2
#5 UW 6-2
#6 USC 5-3
#7 Utah 4-3
#8 UCLA 4-4

In today's environment, Oregon would go to the Rose Bowl, CU would be in the NY6 berth, UW would have gotten the Alamo Bowl, Stanford might go to the Holiday Bowl and the Cougs could have been relegated to the Redbox Bowl, which would be an equivalent drop in prestige.

 

[kayak15]

The game Haliday set the record for passing yards. Special teams was not in prime form that evening if I remember correctly....

Ugh. Don't remind me. Cal returner just cut to the right, ran through a large hole and ran it back for td's. Did that twice in a row. ST coach at the time, Russell, thought it was funny and laughed. Leach fired him on the spot. Game ended after midnight and we got back to the motel about 1:00 am. I have witnessed a lot of disappointments but, yeah, that Cal game is right up there.

For us geezers, Jim Sweeney's last AC is unfortunately memorable.

 

[Coug-Vandal]

I agree with most of the comments above with a special emphasis on the 2002 Apple Cup. However, if we want to go back further the 1989 home loss to USC where Marinovich took them on a 91 yard drive plus a 2 point conversion as time expired has to make a list like this.

 

[SDCoug]

This is a painful thread. I think I’ve been at every one of these games but the Sweeney AC and the 75 AC. Until now I’ve subconsciously repressed most of them 😕

 

[CougEd]

2017 WSU vs Cal
Falks nightmarish meltdown. Cougs came in ranked in the top 10 I believe. Falk threw for 5 int, and Cals garbage QB did a 720 rodeo into the end zone. We pretty much did everything wrong we could at the worst moment and it looked like a bunch of middle schoolers high on ketamine playing a pro team. I almost broke my glass slider.

I would go with the 84 Apple Cup. Changed on a bs play. 2002 and even 03 apple cup.

I would even have 2010 apple cup in there cause they got us on a fake punt and very clear Kearsy was never the gunner on the punt cover team .

19 UCLA was so comical the way it happened was hard for me to be frustrated.

The CSU game while dumb coaching wasnt overly frustrating .

The 06 Apple Cup game was also pretty frustrating because they made five plays and won .

1989 USC game. Ron Ricard had a pick to end the game. He dropped it and USC scored on a half back pass

 

[FnuLnu]

The CSU game while dumb coaching was overly frustrating .

The 06 game was also pretty frustrating because they made five plays and won .

It is Paul Wulff's birthday today (hat tip Rosie below) and could somebody on Twitter wish him well and let him know that loyal minion CougEd has moved on from the Year 5 project and is now road testing his "Year 6" material?