What the heck happened this weekend?
It was an absolutely brutal weekend for college football in the state of Washington, as both the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars, who came into the week ranked in the top 10 nationally, suffered inexplicable losses.
First came Friday night, when the eighth-ranked Cougars headed to Berkeley to take on a .500 California Golden Bears team that had lost three straight, and was promptly blown out 37-3. WSU quarterback Luke Falk, who holds almost every school record for career passing and is a fringe Heisman Trophy candidate, threw five interceptions and was sacked nine times. It was the first time since 2012 that coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense, which came into the game averaging almost 40 points a contest, was held without a touchdown.
Then on Saturday night it was the Huskies’ turn. The fifth-ranked Huskies were maneuvering themselves to be one of the four teams selected for the College Football Playoff for the second straight year. But faced with a .500 Arizona State Sun Devils team that had allowed 30-plus points in 11 straight games, UW scored just once in getting upset 13-7. A Huskies offense that came into the game averaging 43 points per game couldn’t get anything going in either the run or pass game, and Washington’s kickers missed two more chip-shot field goals. Adding injury to insult, the Huskies lost a pair of key starters in tackle Trey Adams and cornerback Jordan Miller.
People were beginning to wonder if this year’s Apple Cup may be the biggest of all time, pitting a pair of undefeated teams vying for a spot in the CFP. Now both Washington and Washington State have dropped out of the top 10 and find themselves looking up at Stanford in the Pac-12 North standings.
Obviously it was a damaging week for college football in the state. Which defeat was more disappointing? Have your say here:
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