Dawgs Finish 2008 Season As Winless Wonders

Posted in Dawgs, Football | 5 comments

We interrupt this Mike Leach love-fest with a short post today, wrapping up what has been a memorable tribute to a most deserving team, the 2008 Washington Huskies.

As you know, the Seattle Times has been honoring the 1991 co-national championship U-Dub team with weekly flashbacks to that undefeated season.

But Coug fans thought that Washington’s 2008 season was the most unforgettable in Husky history. That Tyrone Willingham team ran the table, finishing 0-12 in what had to be the most amazingly wonderful season of them all.

On the first Saturday in December three years ago, the Dawgs limped into Berkeley as 35-point underdogs or something like that. Maybe it was 38, I forget. They didn’t cover, I know that. They had a bye week to lick their wounds from that ass-kicking the Cougs gave them in the Apple Cup, but it didn’t matter because they were about to get another ass-kicking from the Golden Bears.

(By the way, on my Coug calendar, Kevin Lopina is featured in the December picture, and when I flipped the calendar from November to December, I was excited to see Lopina. The first thing that crossed my mind? The Lopina pass to Jared Karstetter that set us up for the ass-kicking in double overtime in the Apple Cup.)

I remember thinking that maybe Washington would put up a better effort in their last game against Cal, if for no other reason than to avoid a winless season, which would have prevented them from being mocked for an eternity by cheap-shot artists like me.

But no, I should have known that the Dawgs would fold again, and fold they did. Actually, they quit, which is worse than folding.

Jahvid Best rushed for 311 yards and four touchdowns. He left the game with 10 minutes to go in the third quarter. By my calculations, he would have rushed for more than 500 yards if he had played the entire game. As it was, the Bears rushed for 431 yards.

The Huskies trailed 31-0 at halftime en route to a 48-7 defeat. Ronnie Fouch left the game in the second quarter, and walk-on Taylor Bean took over. Bean actually led the Huskies on their only scoring drive. As you know, during that season it was more accurate to call a Husky scoring drive a scoring crawl because they didn’t have any explosive play-makers.

After the game, Paint Dry Ty was short and rude to reporters just like usual. But I am here to praise the man. I have praised him all season. I want to thank you, Tyrone Willingham, from the bottom of my heart for bringing so much joy to my life in 2008.

KITSAP SUN DEBUT: Starting tomorrow, I’ll be writing a weekly column for the Kitsap Sun. The first one’s on Mike Leach with suggestions for the WSU marketing department on how they can capitalize on Leach’s fascination with pirates.