Washington State Football: Ranking the Cougs Away Games in 2014
By Josh Davis
Oct 31, 2013; Pullman, WA, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Taylor Kelly (10) is pursued by Washington State Cougars linebacker Tana Pritchard (33) on a 6-yard touchdown run in the first quarter at Martin Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
#5 Arizona State
Payback would be one sweet mother against the Devils, but I will never again be excited to see this matchup before the week actually arrives, not down in Tempe anyway. Let’s see, looking back at the past five games down in the Desert (Tempe specifically), WSU has been absolutely railroaded by scores of 46-7, 42-0, 31-0, 47-14 and 38-14. I don’t even want to average it or look at the total score, that’s just embarrassing.
The Cougs are in fact just 1-9 in the past decade against the Sun Devils and in the years when everything seems to be going perfectly, it gets destroyed at Sun Devil Stadium. I can remember quite vividly how awful the Cougs played there in 1997 when they were on the way to the Rose Bowl. For whatever reason, this is just not a game the Cougs want to take part in and after watching the absolute soul-crushing Halloween beat-down from last year I really want no part of it again this season.
Make no mistake, I will come up with every reason why the Cougs will break the curse this season come the week of the game. You know, like for example maybe the Cougs got the Zona-monkey off their back down in Tuscon last season. But ASU is not last year’s Wildcats, they should be a top 15 squad. So for now this is the game that I am most dreading this season as far as WSU is concerned.
Also unfortunately for the Cougs, this game will take place directly before the Apple Cup, meaning if the outcome is anything like recent history indicates it should be, they won’t exactly be riding an emotional high when it comes time to meet the Dawgs. Hopefully neither of those games means anything as far as making a bowl is concerned because if the Cougs are sitting at just five wins at that point, getting the sixth becomes a fairly daunting task.