Last week in Pullman, WSU led Colorado -- which was considered the worst team in the Pac-12 at the time -- by a score of 31 -14 with around eight minutes left in the game.
The Cougs lost 35-34. With an elegant style and grace all their own, this young Coug team, led by their new and exciting coach Mike Leach, added their own glossy and glittered page to the historical annals of "Cougin' It".
Before knowing the score or story of the game last Saturday, I came across a tweet from a WSU fan that said "This is the worst game I've ever watched sober". I knew right then that there was trouble in the Palouse.
After watching the highlights, my answer to him and all Coug fans is don't be too hard on your team.
It actually looked like the best game they've ever played drunk!
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| "Looks like I picked a bad day to quit drinkin'." |
Jeff Twining of Saturday Blitz wrote up an excellent history and definition of the concept we call "Cougin It". He recalls memorable "Coug" moments going back to 1975. Must read.
In the article, he offers a great analysis as to how and why the Cougs proved so capable of blowing that lead. Below is an excerpt:
At Texas Tech, [Coach Mike] Leach built a winning program that culminated in a bowl game each of the 10 years he coached the Red Raiders. As his teams ascended to the top of the national rankings, his “Air Raid” offense became national recognized for its ability to gain yards and score points in bunches.
The only problem, if you are familiar with the game of football, is that incompletions stop the clock. When your quarterback throws 60 passes and 28 of them are incompletions, like Halliday did Saturday, it is hard to run time off the clock while attempting to maintain a lead.
Coach Leach might have been able to get away with that all day any day at Texas Tech. But he's in Pullman now -- where good leads go to die. If there is any way to lose a game, you'll find that way in Pullman. Consider it the curse of the Palouse, where the white man probably screwed over the natives at one time or another.
When in Seattle . . .
This game will be in Seahawks Stadium in Seattle. It counts as a home game for WSU because they ain't no fools. They know that they can get far more Duck AND Cougar fans in Seattle (Read that: Ticket revenue.) than at Martin Stadium.
This isn't the first time they've done this. And Duck and Coug fans are learning to love the pregame tradition of joining arm in arm, crossing flags in a rainbow of red, green, grey, and yellow, and shouting in one unified voice:
"HUSKIES SUCK. HUSKIES SUCK ......."
And after the game when Duck fans walk out of the stadium into the parking lot to join Coug fans who already left the game two quarters before to seek the comfort of their grills and beverage coolers, they can all raise their brews and agree once again,
"HUSKIES STILL SUCK. HUSKIES STILL SUCK....."
It's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKING OF THE HUSKIES
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| Husky fans storm field after beating No. 8 Stanford 17-13. |
No. They just won, period. They beat a ranked team, which these days is cause for great celebration in Dawg Nation.
Oh how the mighty have fallen. There was a time in Washington when beating Stanford was like a trip to the grocery store. You get what you need. "Thank you. Have a nice day." Then move on.
But these days, any better-than-average win is cherished. Last night, Dawg fans made it official: Washington and Oregon have completely switched places.
If he were dead, Don James would roll in his grave. In fact, this should make James want to kill himself just so he can roll in his grave.
And now, from CREEDENCE COUGWATER REVIVAL
Keep on Cougin’ it.
Keep on Cougin’ it.
Keep on Cougin’ it.
Cougin’ it,
Cougin’ it, Cougin’ it, Cougin it.
Maybe you don’t understand it.
But if you’re a Washington State man,
You drop the ball and run out of time
And that’s what I call Couuuugin’ it.
Up by a score. Give up that score.
You gonna Coug it tonight
Lead goes ker-blewie, home crowd starts booin’.
They gonna Coug it tonight.
chorus
Bleeeeeeeee wuwuwuwuwu..Deena dinna dinna daa daa daa
Doo wah wah wah Doo wah wah wah Doo wah wah wah
Da deedle diddle doo wah
Dohhhhh wah wah wah, Wah Wah Wah, WAH WAH WAH
( harmonica)
Dee diddle doodle, diddle doo da dah
Dee diddle doodle, diddle doo da dah
Dee diddle doodle, diddle doodle, diddle doodle, diddle do da da dah
(Repeat two more times)
DWOP. DWOP. DWOP. DWOP.
Dwaa daa dwaa daa dwaa daa dwaa daa
DWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP
“God bless ya. Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!”
(Editor's note: The hardest part of this whole post was interpreting and writing down Southern Fried Rock electric guitar. You can sing the above words right along with John Fogerty because fortunately, like Dylan and Springsteen, he sings with that special quality of completely unintelligible lyrics. But it is Fogerty live, nevertheless. So you must crank it. Get the whole office dancin'.)
Oregon at Washington State in Seattle gametime: Saturday night @ 7:30 on ESPN2.
Tired of the night games? Afraid they're still coming. Next week against Washington is at 7:30. Then at ASU is an "early" game at 6:00 pm.
1 comment:
Yeah. Those games are getting late for us on the East coast. We couldn't just shut off the game at midnight like we used to, leading by about 30 points and watch the second half on Sunday morning. No, this time we had to stay up until 2AM to be sure the game was in the bag. It was fun, though!
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