Reliving the Season:  Washington

Oregon 55, Washington 34

Leaders:

Ore | Wash

Passing:

Dixon 196 | Locker 267

Rushing:

Stewart 251 | Locker 78

Receiving:

Williams 60 | Russo 127

Those of you who have been here awhile know how much I hate the Huskies.  I know that the rivalry has calmed down a bit the last few years as the Huskies have been so terrible, but my hatred has not died down one bit.  If any other school, even OSU, had been so bad for so long, I’d start to feel bad.  With the Huskies, I just laugh and hope that it continues for as long as possible.  Happiness is a miserable Husky fan.  Its why I always look forward to the Oregon-Washington game, but also why I am always nervous about it.  We were in the middle of what looked to be a very good season, but all would be ruined with a loss to the Huskies.  And with UW showing signs of life, and the game in Seattle, it was hard not to be a bit on edge.

On the plus side, we debuted our “Storm Trooper” all white look.  While I was skeptical of the all-white look, it was completely and totally badass.

Oregon seemed to calm any nerves early.  Snoop, who would spend his day running wild over Washington’s so called “defense,” led an opening 61-yard drive almost entirely by himself, thought it would be capped off by a two yard touchdown reception by a wide open Garren Strong.  After a Washington three and out, Dixon played pitch and catch with every receiver imaginable, and this time Snoop finished off the drive with a two yard score.

Two possessions, and we had already shown that we could run over them, or pass over them.  Game over.  Right?

Except on the very next play, Jake Locker, who throws like my Grandma after a couple of shots of Jack, inexplicably beat our defense with an 83-bomb.  WTF?

It would have been better if we had all popped a few antacids right there.

This was a lot like the Stanford game.  Our offense remained decent, getting a touchdown in each of the next two quarters, but our defense was woeful.  Over the next two quarters, my drunk grandmother threw three touchdown passes, for a total of four on the game.  It was tied 31-31 going into the fourth.  Husky fans were delirious.  I was getting lambasted by my wife for an impressive swearing display that lasted most of the middle two quarters.

But that fourth quarter.  Oh, that magical fourth quarter.  The offense got rolling like it had at no other point in the season.  THIS was the first time where you looked at Dennis and said, “Wow, he could be the best player in the country.”  He ran the option to such perfection that the FSN cameras were following Snoop or Crenshaw one way or the other, only to see Dennis with the ball on the other side of the field.  It helped that both Snoop and Andre were dominant in their own right.  Snoop pummeled UW with 251 yards on 32 carries, Crenshaw added 113, and Dennis just missed the century mark with 99.  In total, 62 carries, 465 yards (7.5 ypc), and six TDs.  Oh, and the fourth quarter?  24-3.

Our defense may have been substandard until the final quarter.  Our offense most certainly was not.

Our rivals vanquished, now the talk could begin.  Next week was USC.  The question of were we for real?  The Trojans would make or break our season.

GO DUCKS!!!

--Dave (addictedtoquack@gmail.com)