Washington State at Washington
Knowing that a win would put them in position to actually win the PAC-12 North, Washington State’s incredible season of resilience continued on Friday night in Alaska Airlines Husky Stadium. The Husky’s hope that a new starting QB, in Sam Huard, would cure their ills was long gone by the time he threw his 4th interception of the night. By the end of the 1st Qtr it was 10-0 with the Cougars having scored on their first two possessions of the game. After a couple of Washington three-and-outs Huard would throw up his first interception which led to another field goal by the Cougars. With some help from a Cougar unsportsmanlike penalty, a 29 yard pass completion by Huard, and the rushing of Kamari Pleasant and Sean McGrew, Washington was able get a TD and PAT on the board with under two minutes left in the half. The Cougars got all the way back down to the Washington 31 yard line on their subsequent possesion in time for a field goal attempt, but Dean Janikowski missed a 48 yarder as time ran out. Score 13-7 at the break.
But that’s as close as it ever got as the Cougars scored on their first four possessions of the 2nd half, putting up 27 more points on the board aided by three interceptions including a pick six. Huard eventually connected in the end zone early in the 4th Qtr to close the score to 30-13. But another field goal by the Cougars and the interception back to the house would push it out to 40-13 by the middle of the 4th Qtr where it stayed. Delirious Washington State fans rushed the field to celebrate the win and rid themselves of the seven years of frustration and dominance by the Huskies that they have endured in this yearly rivalry, the Apple Cup. For the Washington fans to have to watch this on their own field seemed a fitting ending to the perfect mess of a season that they had to put up with. Something tells me season ticket sells won’t be quite as robust next year. If only Washington could have landed Lincoln Riley.
On the night the Cougar’s Sophmore QB Jayden de Laura played a super efficient game connecting on almost 85% of his passes, 27-of-32, for 245 yards, no TD’s but no picks either with all that passing helping to open up a great night of running by Max Borghi who rushed 22 times for 129 yards and 2 TD’s. Senior RB Deon Macintosh picked up another score on 16 carries for 49 yards. The rest of the scoring for the Cougars came from the pick six and PK Dean Janikowski who connected on four-of-five field goals. For Washington, Huard completed about 55% of his passes for 190 yards 1 TD and 4 brutal interceptions. On the ground the Huskies were horrendous, rushing 14 times for 10 yards and 1 TD, including 2 carries for minus 25 yards by the QB.
A jubilant Max Borghi was quoted afterwards saying; “It’s special. Coug Nation deserves it, this team deserved it, the seniors deserved it. I can’t really put it into words yet, it hasn’t really sunk in. But holding that Apple Cup trophy is something we’ve all dreamt about and it was incredible.” The 27 point difference in the score was the largest margin of victory by the Cougars over the Dawgs in the long history of the Apple Cup that dates all the way back to their first meeting on November 30th, 1900 that ended in a 5-5 tie. After losing their head coach and four assistants, Washington State installed their defensive coordinator Jake Dickert as interim head coach and as the AP wrote in their review for ESPN; “The victory may have locked up the head coaching position permanently for the interim head coach who was already receiving significant support for the job he’s done.”
As the AP noted, “Washington started the season in the AP Top 25 and will end with four straight loses.” The next game for the Dawgs is Kent State next year. In the mean time there will be a top-to-bottom purge and rebuild of the program starting with the hiring of a new head coach. For the Cougars, they’re not done and will be awaiting to see which post season bowl game they will be participating in. Whoever they face, look out because this group is the real deal.
Oregon State at Oregon
That perfect seven-for-seven season at Reser Stadium in Corvallis couldn’t help Oregon State in Eugene on the road facing the Ducks. If they could have only played the first half like they played the second Washington State might have been celebrating more than an Apple Cup win, as a loss by the Ducks would have sent the Cougars to Vegas to face Utah in the PAC-12 Conference Champsionship on December 3rd. But it wasn’t to be as Oregon outscored their in-state rival 38-29 to wrap up the PAC-12 North. The rivalry, known as the Civil War up until 2000, is one of the longest running in college football history dating all the way back to 1894 when the schools first met.
Oregon’s QB Anthony Brown gave a performance reminescent of the game he played early in the season in their win on the road in the “Shoe” at Ohio State. Completing over 80% of his passes he connected on 23-of-28 for 275 yards, 2 TD’s, and no interceptions in addition to running the ball 14 times for 83 yards and another score. RB Travis Dye had another stellar game carrying the ball 20 times for just one yard shy of 100 and 2 TD’s. All toll the Ducks had 506 yards of total offense and a time of possession that exceeded Oregon State’s by an entire quarter—15 minutes. Four of their drives averaged 15 seconds shy of six minutes—leaving little time for the Beavers to catch up even when they starting playing well.
Oregon State’s Sophomore QB Chance Nolan connected on 25-of 39 for 308 yards, 2 TD’s, one pick as well as rushed twice for another score. The Beavers weren’t as prolific on the ground as usual but RB’s BJ Baylor and Trey Lowe picked up 79 more yards with Baylor scoring the only other TD for Oregon State. Down 31-9 at the end of the 3rd the Beavers scored on back-to-back TD’s, first on a BJ Baylor 4 yard run with 10 minutes left in the 4th and then again after a successful onside kick recovered by Oregon State at the Ducks 48 yard line. Six plays later they were back in the end zone on a Chance Nolan 15 yard pass to Trevon Bradford to get within 10 points at 31-21. With 8:28 left, the Ducks took their nice sweet time on their next possession going 75 yards in 9 plays while taking up well over 5 minutes on the clock before Travis Dye ran it in from the Oregon State 1 yard line to make it 38-21 with just over three minutes left in the game. The Beavers just took two of those to go 75 yards in 12 plays and score on a Chance Nolan pass to Zeriah Beason, and along with a successful two point conversion closed the score to 38-29 where it stayed. The onside kick by the Beavers failed and the Ducks ran out the clock to secure the PAC-12 North title and ensure a rematch in the PAC-12 Championship game against the Utah team that knocked them out of the college football playoff—should be a good one.