PASADENA — The Huskies will walk onto field at the Rose Bowl this evening, preparing to play on something of a field of dreams for football players in the Pacific-10 Conference.
In recent years, however, the Rose Bowl has been more of a house of horrors for Washington. In November of 1995, the 22nd ranked Huskies came to Pasadena and beat UCLA 38-14. Since then, the Huskies are 0 for 5 against the Bruins in the Rose Bowl. (Washington did get a win over Purdue in the 2001 Rose Bowl).
Even so, the Huskies are still looking forward to playing at the Rose Bowl.
“Oh, man it’s exciting,” defensive tackle Jordan Reffett said. “Going down to the Rose Bowl, it’s like sacred ground there. It’s exciting.”
Whatever the reason for Washington’s struggles may be, it doesn’t sound like a hostile environment is the culprit.
“I love playing there,” senior receive Anthony Russo said. “When I played there two yeas ago I loved it. I felt like I was at home, honestly. It was a good place to play. I didn’t feel it was too tough there to play. I felt right at home over there.”
Many of the losses since 1995 have been painful for one reason or another. In 1999, the Huskies were ranked 22nd and playing a 3-6 Bruins squad, but fell 23-20 in overtime. Two years later, the Huskies headed south on a 12-game winning streak, but lost by 22 points.
The 2003 loss marked the most recent time Washington has been ranked. The Huskies came into the game 3-1 with a No. 18 ranking, and led early before being blown out 46-16.
The Huskies had another chance to exorcise their Rose Bowl demons in 2005 when they had a 10-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the Bruins again rallied for a win.
Asked about that loss earlier in the week, the first thing that came to Tyrone Willingham’s mind was a holding call that negated a long Louis Rankin touchdown run that would have extended Washington’s fourth-quarter lead.
“That game I remember there was a particular holding call that could have been disputed, at least from my chair,” he said. “That could have made a huge difference in the ball game.”
The Huskies returned the favor at home last year, coming back from a halftime deficit to steal a win. Comebacks have become a recent trend in the series, meaning neither team will take an early lead for granted.
“It just shows you’ve got to keep fighting,” Rankin said. “Whenever these two teams play it’s a close game. You never know what’s going to happen, so the best thing you can do is keep fighting all the way through the game.”
Russo had no explanation for the back-and-forth nature of recent games.
“I’m not sure why that happens, but as far as I can remember, that’s the way it’s been,” he said. “I don’t know why we play games like that.”
Today’s game is another big test in Pasadena for the Huskies. A win today — especially an impressive one — could put the Huskies back in the top 25 for the first time since that 2003 loss, providing nice bookends of sorts. A loss however, will leave the Huskies at 2-2 with top-ranked USC on deck. Suddenly 2-3 would look realistic, and the excitement of Washington’s 2-0 start would start to feel like a distant memory.
The Huskies also hope a win today can help them earn a return trip come January.
“The Rose Bowl is historic,” cornerback Roy Lewis said. “There’s no place like it. We love going down there. We’re going early this season and hopefully at the end of the season we’ll get another opportunity to go down there.”
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