Is this the worst month ever for Washington football fans?

Was thinking about the news that's broken recently this month, and I think that this might be the worst month in the history of Washington football fandom. Maybe even the worst couple of months. And you think nothing could be as bad as 0-12, right? Well, maybe; I think it's a lot worse when you think you're good and then you find out you fail compared to knowing how bad you are and then, well, realizing that. But even then, this Washington team this year was worse in a lot of ways to that 0-12 team, so that's not exactly a fallback.

(and yes, this is exactly how I diss other teams - by bringing up stuff that's actually happening instead of events that happened 70 years ago).

Anyway, if you're interested, more explaining after the jump.

First off, we have the bowl game. Washington gave up more points than anyone else had in a bowl game ever. (though thanks, Clemson, for messing that up). More yards, more points, more embarrassment than ever. It was also the worst defensive game in the modern history of Washington and one of the worst defensive games in the history of college football. Because of who was playing in it (RG3) it also meant it was one of the highest-rated non-BCS games this season, so not only did Washington do this, they did it in front of 5 million viewers and even more folks who saw the highlights later.

For a fanbase who remembers the Don James era of Husky football and longs to get back to the days of smashmouth hardcore defenses, this must have been about the worst thing to see.

In addition to that, we have Mike Leach getting hired at WSU. This took up the national and local media for a good two weeks. Washington's used to being the big brother, but Bill Moos utterly outclassed them on this and immediately made fans start thinking about how threatening that rivalry is right now - especially with the defense as weak as it is. Everyone in the conference was excited for Leach to come in, WSU has massively more donations now (including the single largest donation in the history of the school), their star is rising hard and Washington has to watch that.

Then 4 of 5 top recruits from Washington turn Washington down. Some actively diss Washington, saying that they were insulted by how they were treated. Others just claim that it's because Washington has all these statements of where they want to go, whereas other schools can point to where they are right now. In any case, that's pretty horrible.

The best recruiter for Washington gets poached by...Jim Mora, who takes the job in UCLA. So Mora, who has said his dream job is coaching at UW, goes to another team and starts taking recruits and recruiters from Washington with him.

Then we have Oregon winning the Rose Bowl. Not via luck, not because of a poor opponent, but because they were the better team and the best team in the Pac-12, against a great Wisconsin team. Now the Washington fan's prior scathing insult of 'when's the last time you won a rose bowl haw haw' is empty; the best they can come up with is that they've won more.

And here's the best part - after firing Holt essentially before he got on the plane back home, they hired a new DC...who is a second-generation Duck. And another coach who is also a Duck. Now they have to start accepting that they've got these players who grew up and played for Oregon (and in Justin Wilcox's case, is the son of a player for Oregon) and start saying how great it is while having to suppress their hatred of the Ducks.

Finally: Montlake stadium is destroyed. Demolished, literally. Can't get more symbolic than that.

I'm trying to think of a worse set of gutpunches to a fanbase than the above and am failing; at least with the 0-12 season you had the light at the end of the tunnel saying that Ty was gone. With this there's at best the hope that an ex-Duck will improve your team considerably while other teams in the conference take big ssteps forward, including the rivals of Washington.

Full confession: I am a Husky fan too. Not a big one, but I don't hate them any more and hope they do well going forward. I will always root for the Ducks first and foremost, but my second favorite team is no longer 'whoever is playing the Huskies this week'