The Huskies are 7-5 to End the Regular Season

Note: I was going to finish this on Sunday after the rest of the Pac-12 played, but got distracted. Then had a minor family emergency which required me to drive to Seattle and back on Monday. So I'm finishing it and posting it today (Tuesday).

The University of Washington Huskies won their seventh straight Apple Cup game against cross-state rival Washington State University Cougars on Friday. Both teams went into the game with identical records: 3-5 in conference, 6-5 overall. So many WSU fans hoped this was their year. It wasn't.

On their first possession, after receiving the opening kickoff, the Cougars marched down the field and scored a touchdown. At this point, I was worried that the Cougars might win. Then the Huskies got the ball and did the same thing, tying the score are 7-7. At that point it looked like a high-scoring game might happen. But the Husky defense came alive and stopped the Cougars on their next series, holding them to a field goal. The score was 10-7 in favor of the Cougs.

As first the Huskies couldn't move the ball on the ground against the WSU defense. But by halftime, the offense figured that out and were able to run with the ball.

Then Washington answered with two touchdowns. Also, the UW defense made turnovers. The Huskies racked up points while the Cougars didn't. The final score was 31-13 for UW.

Some WSU fans complained about the officiating saying there were pass interference calls made when they shouldn't have been. I agree with one of those (not the four the WSU fans were claiming). But that's football. Until we have robot officials, there's going to be mistakes.

This is Coach Chris Petersen's sixth Apple Cup win. Cougar coach Mike Leach has lost seven and won one in his tenure at WSU.

Elsewhere in the Pac-12

The Apple Cup was on Friday. But the other Pac-12 games were on Saturday.

There were no surprises in the last games of the regular season. Oregon beat Oregon State, Arizona State beat Arizona, Utah beat Colorado, Nortre Dame beat Sanford in a non-conference game, and Cal beat UCLA. If Utah has lost to Colorado (it could happen), USC would be playing in that game, instead.

That means Oregon and Utah will play in the Pac-12 Championship game on Friday (5:00 PM PST on ABC). I'm rooting for Utah (but I always root against the Nike Ducks).

Washington is tied with Cal for second in the Pac-12 North.

Now we wait to see who wins the Pac-12 Championship and what bowl game the Pac-12 teams that are bowl eligible go to. That's seven out of twelve teams.

Big News

Yesterday (Monday) it was announced that Husky coach Chris Petersen is stepping down as head coach after six seasons. Defensive Coordinator Jimmy Lake will take over coaching duties (for now). Petersen will not even coach the Huskies through their bowl game.

This makes me sad. Word is that Petersen will stay at UW in a "Senior Athletic Advisory" position. I don't know, maybe he feels discouraged after this mediocre season. It's just sad, to me.