SEATTLE – They said all the right things Saturday after disposing of Idaho.
After beating the Vandals 34-6 to break an eight-game losing streak and derail a run of 12 defeats in the last 13 games, the politically correct Washington Huskies readily and responsibly took the throne as victors, cheerfully praising Idaho while patting themselves on the back for a fine week of practice and improved execution in the game.
What else could they do, really? Could they really bring up the fact that they should have beaten the Vandals senseless because they’re Washington and Idaho is Idaho? That, even in the sorry state the UW program finds itself, it has no more business playing the Vandals than William F. Buckley has in debating Homer Simpson? That the Husky-Vandal series should be deep-sixed because it’s a colossal sham in the name of competitive sport?
Of course not. Coach Tyrone Willingham would bench them until the turn of the century.
The fact is that small-potatoes Idaho annually submits to an annual Washington flogging for the sole purpose of helping its miniscule athletic budget from bathing in more red ink than was poured on Sissy Spacek in “Carrie.”
On the other hand, Washington’s only benefit in victory is that it will avoid an 0-11 season.
The Vandals get a share of the Husky Stadium gate, which, while it didn’t represent the dollar amount Saturday it has in recent years, still probably helped pay for a few hand towels for the women’s golf team and water-resistant warm-ups for the cross-country squad.
Are those reasons enough to keep the series alive? Heavens, no.
The UI-UW matchup has long been a one-sided indignity. It’s college football’s answer to U.S.-Grenada. Saturday’s mismatch was Washington’s 17th straight victory over the Vandals, dating back to a tie in 1938.
The Huskies are undefeated (with two ties) in their last 33 meetings with Idaho, dating back to an 8-0 loss in 1905. They are 32-0-2 all-time against the Vandals in Husky Stadium.
The totals: Washington 34, Idaho 2, with ties in 1907 and 1938.
Please. Make it stop.
The programs didn’t face each other from 1973 to 2000. They’re not scheduled to play each other for the next four seasons. Let’s do away with the thought altogether, starting immediately.
While it may help Idaho’s bottom line, the series is an unconcealed rip-off for all paying customers either foolish enough or bloodthirsty enough to witness it. Idaho has zero hope in attracting the type of athletes Washington considers for scholarships, even in passing. It has neither comparable facilities nor the athletic budget that approaches that of Washington.
How can it possibly hope to be competitive with the Huskies? It can’t.
Even Vandals coach Nick Holt came as close to admitting it this week as any coach will allow himself to.
“It’s going to always be a tough game for us,” Holt said. “It does give us exposure for the Northwest kids and it’s an easy trip for their folks to see them and it’s easy travel for us. It makes sense. Do I want to play them every year? Not really, no. But every so often.”
The general consensus this week was that, if the Huskies didn’t beat Idaho, they had little chance to equal even last season’s 1-10 mark. There also was a school of thought that Idaho, having played Washington State tough in its opener and losing by three points to UNLV, had the best chance to pull the upset since Woodrow Wilson was president.
But no. It was business as usual Saturday.
And for the Vandals, business wasn’t exactly booming.
The stat that best showed Washington’s physical dominance: seven sacks. Seven sacks helped the next most-showing stat: negative-4 yards rushing.
To be blunt, Washington got about as much out of Saturday’s game as Idaho did. Honestly, how could the Huskies gain any respect by pounding on this team? Rout the Vandals, and they did what was expected. Lose, and it’s a disgrace of massive proportions, easily beating out the Nevada loss at Husky Stadium in 2003.
No matter what happened Saturday, the Huskies had little chance to prove anything of any substance about themselves.
“We knew we had to come out today and we couldn’t just win 17-14,” said cornerback Josh Okoebor, who came up with one of Washington’s two interceptions Saturday. “We had to really make a statement. That’s the only way we were going to leave this game satisfied, knowing we were ready for the rest of the season.”
But how satisfied could they have been, really, about Saturday’s performance?
Washington blew two early scoring opportunities. On the Huskies’ second possession, they had the ball, first-and-goal, on the Vandal 2-yard line, yet failed to score.
James Sims ran to the 1, but Isaiah Stanback tossed a wild pitch on an option play for a fumble and then badly missed on a pass to Sonny Shackelford. Evan Knudson topped it off by missing a 28-yard field-goal attempt.
On Washington’s next possession, Stanback threw an interception while trying to force a deep pass to Anthony Russo.
Although the Huskies came up with at least a field goal in their next six offensive series, the outburst didn’t exactly come against USC. And it didn’t erase the fact that they were 0-for-9 on third down.
So just how much did Saturday determine that the Huskies are ready for Notre Dame next week? Or the rest of the schedule?
Not much.
And as long as administration insists on scheduling Idaho, it does few favors for either program.
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