WSU Cougars Lose Apple Cup 27-17: The Pure, Unbridled Good, Bad and Ugly

Nov 29, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies running back Bishop Sankey (25) rushes through a tackle by Washington State Cougars defensive tackle Ioane Gauta (95, right) during the third quarter at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The Good:

• Starting off for the Cougars, they battled folks. The game very easily could have been 20-3 Cougars after the opening drive of the second half. Instead, the Dawgs seized the momentum in the 3rd and an energy took over the stadium that is impossible to feel on television. The place was rocking. Our Cougs played with pure grit and fought back into the game again and again but came up short in the final five minutes. Most definitely the type of performance deserving of a bowl bid and the Huskies earned the win.
• The WSU WR’s are going to be so good next year. We are going to harp on this all off-season, but the entire unit returns. Nine guys caught a football in the loss Friday. Seven caught at least three passes. The only guy that caught one pass (Galvin) caught an pretty over-the-shoulder touchdown. The running backs made eight combined catches (six by Mason, two by Caldwell). That’s incredible balance and will give the Cougs the firepower to stay with anybody next season. That’s not an exaggeration; anybody. Remember too this unit was minus their best target from 2012, Brett Bartolone, a majority of the season.
• The performance from the WSU secondary was unbelievable. I can’t wait to see this defense with better “athletes” running around back there (let’s face it, we don’t have “elite” athleticism in our secondary yet), but I am going to miss the heck outta Nolan, Damante, Deone and Casey Locker. One of the worst overall groups in all of college football in 2012 (minus Deone), they made strides I did not think were possible this season as a group and made me a proud Cougar in their efforts. Truly ambassadors of the “hard work pays off” motto for their University!

The Bad:

• A block in the back and a failure to understand clock by both coaching staff and quarterback at the end of the first half stunted an incredible amount of momentum from WSU. At the time, we could not be stopped and should have at the very least had a 16-3 lead in the early stages of the second half, plain and simple. Wasted opportunities like that have a way of catching up with you and they did.
• I hate to get after the officials, but they blew some huge calls that should have gone to WSU. At least two more pass interference penalties should have been thrown on the Husky secondary and two late hits on Connor should have also been called when he: A) got blasted into the Husky sideline after giving himself up and; B) got hit right in the face on a throw in the 4th quarter. I say “at least” because there was early contact on nearly every throw in the first half by UW’s DB’s, but there was a mugging on two third downs that really hurt. The refs did a nice job for the most part but those calls were absolutely “must-calls” that just got ignored, especially the late hits; Point of emphasis they say.
• Speaking of which, much as I love River Cracraft, I truly believe he has to fight for himself more. Part of getting P.I. calls is selling that you were interfered with. Dom has learned the art of the sell and I truly believe he earned two P.I.’s that wouldn’t have otherwise been called based solely on his demeanor. Nobody gets mugged on our team more than River and whether refs know he’s a freshman or whatever it is, he’s got to sell them that he is getting interfered with and deserves a call. He does a good job of moving to the next play but part of helping your quarterback and offense out is earning those penalties and free yards.
• The outcome of this game was bad, but not ugly. I cannot think of a team I was more proud of watching than this year’s group. Still a loss is a loss and it’s unfortunate that we have to “wait” to see if we’ll go bowling, I know we were all hoping we could secure that. As I tweeted out late Friday, I trust the effort and showing in that game gets WSU a bowl invite somewhere.

The Ugly:

Nov 29, 2013; Seattle, WA, USA; Washington Huskies running back Bishop Sankey (25) celebrates after rushing for a touchdown against the Washington State Cougars during the third quarter at Husky Stadium. The touchdown by Sankey set a new personal career record for rushing touchdowns at Washington. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Bishop Sankey is ugly! That boy is straight stupidly ugly! No I’m not talking about his face, or his game, or even the fact that he changed schools last minute. I’m talking “I never want to see him again because he’s so good” ugly. I tell you he simply had another gear that we did not have. Matter of fact, he has another gear that few college athletes have. Ka’Deem Carey is a grinder and a ridiculous running back, but I think Sankey is one of the best all-around college backs I’ve ever seen, period. I really hope he goes and gets paid cause if there’s one guy I don’t ever want to see in an Apple Cup it’s Bishop Sankey.

That stupid “W” that the Huskies love to throw up is ugly. It’s a UW thing, I get it, I just hate seeing it. It’s annoying.

The fact that the regular season is over. I cannot believe it went so fast! I suppose it’s part of why football is my favorite sport because you never get enough of it, but dang it!

I swear to god we get less photos of Washington State than anyone else in a major conference in the country. Can we hire a legit Cougar photo-taker from USA Today please? The Cougs made plenty of huge plays in this Apple Cup and we don’t even see one touchdown photo available! That’s just ugly!

Last thing, we paid $30 for freaking parking! Darn you Seattle! On top of that, it was probably a 15-20 minute walk STILL! Toss in the fact that we had to carry our baby and his diaper bag and my back and neck can tell you; “That’s ugly”!

Go Cougs!