Apple Cup Victory

Going into yesterday's Apple Cup (the annual rivalry game between the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State University Cougars), the Huskies were the underdog. They were 5-6 on the season so far (3-5 in conference). The Cougars were ranked #20 and were 8-3 overall (6-2 in conference).

The game was being played in Husky Stadium and home field advantage is huge in this rivalry game. But it wasn't supposed to overcome the Cougars consistent passing attack. The bad news for the Cougars, their lead quarterback was out with a head injury. But, again, that wan't supposed to swing the victory to the Huskies who's true freshman quarterback, Jake Browning, was still trying to get his bearings although he'd shown great improvement through the season.

During the opening drive, the Cougars marched down the field, their backup quarterback hitting his targets flawlessly. The Husky defense did manage to hold them to only a field goal.

The the Dawgs offense came to the field. And Browning was great. And running back Myles Gaskin, initially shut down by the Coug defense, eventually started making yards and became the first true freshman in Husky history to run 1,000 yards in a season.

And the Cougars turned over the ball seven times. Eight if you count a fumble that was overturned on review (and shouldn't have been). The final score was 45-10. Like last week, Jake Browning didn't play near the end of the game although he didn't come out of the game quite so early.

In other words, the Cougars "Couged it." Or the Huskies just played better football, depending on whom you talk to.

With this win, the Huskies are "bowl eligible" meaning they get one more game and a lot more practices to improve even more before next season. No word yet on which bowl. With a 6-6 record, it's not going to be one of the better ones. But, it is still a bowl.