A Heartbreaking Game

Usually heartbreaking games are those that have close scores. Last night's Univeristy of Washington Huskies football game didn't have a close score, the Huskies losing the Utah by 34-23. No, what broke the heart was why they lost.

First was mistakes. The Huskies couldn't hang onto the ball the first half of the game. Admittedly, it was pouring down rain, but still a dropped punt and a later fumble both led to Utah scores.

Then there was the officiating. First a Washington touchdown was negated by a questionable holding call. Then on the very next play, blatant defensive pass interference wasn't called. Then the officals called offensive pass interference on our receiver, when even the television announces admitted it shouldn't have been called.

I was hoping after last week's blowout of Arizona, the Huskies would play at least that well. Even the odds makers had them 1.5 point favorites against the 7-1 Utes who were ranked #13 in the nation last night (they moved up to #12 this morning). But with the mistakes and Husky quarterback Jake Browning not hitting his receivers as well as he did last week, it was no soap. Add to that a Ute player named Devontae Booker who could run through defenders like he was a bulldozer, and I'm surprised the score was so close.

So now the Huskies are 4-5 overall and 2-4 in conference play and in second to the last place in the Pac-12 North. We need two more wins to be bowl eligible (and it'll be a louse bowl if we make it. Next week we take on Arizona St. in Tempe, a game we should win. Then we go to Corvallis to play the Oregon State Beavers, a game we'd better win. Then on Black Friday we play Washington State in the Apple Cup. And as good as the Cougars are playing this year, that's going to be a tough game. But it should be a good one.