Cougars, Huskies football nearly ruin dream Apple Cup

I’ve been telling Pat about my dream Apple Cup on Friday, Nov. 25, and she has come aboard even though she never roots for the WSU Cougars.

Saturday was a critical day, I told her, because the Huskies were going to play a real tough Utah team at Salt Lake City. The Cougars, nothing to worry about. They were to play the lowly Oregon State Beavers.

Surprise, surprise. Both teams had to fight for their lives. The Huskies required a punt return touchdown to finally get a hold on their 31-24 victory. It broke a 24-all tie with about three minutes left.

Pat was upset and happy alternately throughout that game. Me, too.

The real miracle is that there were three blocks that could have been called clipping. When the returner crossed the goal line, I was looking for my TV screen to flash “FLAG.”

Although the punt return gave the Huskies the lead, the real winning play came on the next-to-last play of the game when the Huskies executed their lone sack of the game and forced Utah into fourth-and-15.

The Utah quarterback, formerly a UW Husky, threw a desperate pass to the end zone that no one could catch as it flew past the end line about 10 feet high.

I tuned in the Cougar game Saturday evening and was shocked for an entire half, WSU trailing, 24-6. I never doubted the Cougars would win, but I couldn’t believe how OSU had shut down the offense.

Pat had this “there goes your dream Apple Cup look.” She doesn’t really know the capabilities of the Cougar offense.

As I expected, the WSU quarterback found his bearings in the third quarter and brought the Cougars back for a 35-31 win. Still, the Cougars made the fourth quarter interesting by going back to their sputtering ways of the first half.

My dream Apple Cup is still intact, but there are still three games for each team before then.

The games that appear to be most critical for both teams will occur on the same day. WSU will play in Boulder against a very good Colorado team on Nov. 19 while the Huskies will host an improving USC team.

And Oregon State proved you can can’t anybody out. The Cougars have two home games coming up against Arizona and California. The Huskies travel to Cal this week and then host Arizona State.

The good news is that even Pat is rooting for the Cougars to win.