Cougs Win! Cougs Win!

Posted in Football | 10 comments

PULLMAN – Wow. The Cougs beat Arizona State 37-27 last night at Martin Stadium. And even though I’m in town for Dads’ Weekend, I almost didn’t go to the game.

Obviously, I’m glad that I did. It was the far-and-away best win in the four years of the Paul Wulff era, which I figured would end in two weeks but might go on for a long time now.

I know it’s just one game, and I suppose it doesn’t make up for the Oregon State and Cal games, but still… as I left Martin Stadium amid back-and-forth cheers of Go and Cougs, I couldn’t help but think that Wulff has a shot at saving his job now.

Naturally, though, since I’ve vacillated on this topic on a weekly basis, I’ll probably be writing something else next week after Utah beats us. But right now, after last night’s game, I’d be surprised if we come out flat against the Utes.

And now for my apologies… every other post and story about the Cougs mentioned Connor Halliday in the first paragraph, and it took me five paragraphs to mention him here.

I remember writing about this kid after he signed a letter of intent to Washington State. I thought he played as well or maybe even outplayed Jake Heaps in the 4A state championship game between Ferris and Skyline. That’s when he first appeared on my radar.

Then I remember loving how candid the kid was in a phone interview I did with him for a Cougfan.com story. He sounded a little cocky, which I liked.

But the last couple of years, I never thought he’d get a shot playing behind Jeff Tuel. Then last night he takes over for Marshall Lobbestael on the third series and may never leave the field again.

Apparently that was the plan, to have Halliday take over for the Lobster on the third series last night, and then Wulff was going to decide what to do from there. Pretty hard to pull Halliday when he connects with Marquess Wilson on an 85-yard touchdown with his first pass.

Halliday went on to complete 27 of 36 for 494 yards and 4 TDs in a performance that put his name in Coug history books forever. No one has ever done anything like that in his first meaningful game before. His 494 yards is the second-most prolific performance ever, behind Alex Brink’s 518 in a losing cause at Oregon State in 2005.

I couldn’t get over how poised he looked, how savvy he looked. Halliday avoided the rush and looked like he’d been in the Coug pocket forever. Dare we say it? He looked better than Jeff Tuel. And dare we say this? Tuel may never get his job back.

You’ll counter by saying: “Whoa! Slow down there big fella. It was just one game.”

And I’d agree. But what a game it was. I mean, that was legendary stuff. I’ve been watching Cougar football for 37 years and never seen anything like that from a kid playing in what amounted to his first game. And let’s not forget that all of this against a 6-3 Arizona State team that led the Pac-12 in interceptions and was fourth in pass defense.

How in the world did it happen? I have no idea, but I enjoyed it immensely. And I’m writing these thing having seen the game completely sober – well, maybe not completely sober, but pretty much sober. I had only two Miller Lites and a couple of swigs of Peppermint Schnapps before the game.

If you had told me that this was going to happen after Jamal Miles returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, I would have never believed it. I was ready to walk out of Martin Stadium with the shivering Go 2 Girl at that point.

She left a few minutes later, and I joined former Gannon Haller Paul Kitzke to watch the second half. Kitzke might be the most rabid and cynical Coug ever, and we were both sitting there thinking that the Cougs would probably find a way to lose at some point.

And then with around 5 minutes to go, I turned to him and said: “Kitzke, I think we might actually win tonight.”

Win we did. If I’m Alex Garoutte’s dad, I feel very bad for my son this morning. I probably called him after the game and offered fatherly words of encouragement.

But I’m not his dad, I’m a Coug fan who was thrilled that he missed a 21-yard field goal that would have tied the game at 30-30. What a beautiful thing that was – to see another team screw up on something that should have been a slam dunk because God knows it’s usually the Cougs who are front and center when it comes to screwing up.

Then to see us march down the field and not get conservative – which would have been understandable given the newness of our quarterback – well, it was beautiful. Marquess Wilson, take a bow. Your three touchdown catches were sensational, but your two third-down receptions on the final drive were even better.

Then to see Eric Oertel cause Miles to fumble on the ensuing kickoff and to watch the Cougs, of all teams, go into the victory formation THREE TIMES, well, again, I’m overjoyed to be typing this sentence. We were in the victory formation. We so rarely use it, I thought we might screw that up somehow, but we didn’t. We looked like we’d been doing it for years, running it flawlessly on three snaps.

And then to see Cougs running onto the field afterward. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! I tried to get down there myself, but by the time I got my old fat ass down there, the security guard told me they weren’t letting anyone else on the field.

I had told Wulff in an interview last Thursday on the Kevin Calabro Show on 710 ESPN Seattle that if the Cougs beat ASU, I’d carry him off the field. So I still owe him something for not doing it, though I tried. And I’d like to thank the security guard for saving me from herniating a disc.

Anyway, just a great night as you know. I could type forever, but I’ve got to hit the road and head home after having breakfast with my kid if she’s up.

Go Cougs. Thirteen days ‘til we beat the Huskies. And the hell of it is, it now looks like we might have a shot to do it.