One that got away

PULLMAN – Call it the Cougars’ November surprise, if you will.

At the end of October, Washington State was so confident that one player walked off the field at the Rose Bowl after the victory over UCLA and pretended to release a bowling ball, an obvious reference to WSU’s apparent December destination.

But three straight losses in November – including one final blow in the Apple Cup on Saturday – and the Cougars have played themselves into the political game.

Washington State lost the 99th Apple Cup on Saturday, 35-32, to a Washington football team that had dropped six in a row and had been embarrassed by a winless Stanford team on its home turf just a week earlier.

“Typical Apple Cup, I guess,” WSU coach Bill Doba said. “The team that needed it didn’t get it.”

In the process, the Cougars (6-6, 4-5 Pac-10) cost themselves a winning regular season and most likely that bowl game, too, unless athletic director Jim Sterk can successfully lobby his way into a 13th game.

Even that depends on luck, though – bowls with at-large bids are obligated to take every 7-5 team in the country before they can consider a .500 team like the Cougars.

“I started (politicking) last week, that the Cougars travel well,” Sterk said. “Who knows what’s going to happen?”

First, WSU may spend the next few days wondering what happened in a sold-out Martin Stadium on Saturday night.

The Cougars – angling to win a third consecutive Apple Cup for the first time in school history – could have controlled the Huskies (5-7, 3-6), but a barrage of big plays for the visitors swung momentum and the scoreboard their way.

“It’s sickening. It’s heart-wrenching,” Cougar defensive coordinator Robb Akey said. “It really is. You’ve got an opportunity to close some things out and do something that hasn’t been done and send your senior class out. Obviously, we had a lot riding on it with the bowl opportunities we had there. That really does make you sick. I thought we’d perform better.”

Coming into the regular-season finale, Washington’s longest run of the year was 68 yards. Its longest pass was 56 yards. Its longest kickoff return was 34 yards.

Against the Cougars, Washington had a 77-yard touchdown run. It had a 64-yard touchdown pass, and then a 69-yard touchdown pass. And it had an 87-yard kickoff return that set up a fourth touchdown.

The Huskies’ fifth score also came courtesy of a surprise – a blocked punt by linebacker Chris Stevens that he then fell on in the end zone.

As a result, WSU found itself playing from behind when some of the numbers might have indicated that it should have been nursing a lead.

Quarterback Alex Brink ended up throwing 54 times, a Cougar Apple Cup record. He completed 32, another WSU mark for this rivalry game, but many of those came late, like his 33-yard toss to Brandon Gibson that brought the Cougars within a score with 6 minutes remaining.

WSU had a chance to steal the game back from the Huskies, taking possession with 2 minutes and 18 seconds left on its own 20-yard line.

But after one first down the Husky defense stiffened, and the Cougars’ chances ended with a Caesar Rayford fourth-down sack that sent the Husky fans in attendance into a frenzy.

The Huskies never trailed in the second half, and managed to end their tumultuous season on a positive note, much like the Cougars did a year ago by winning their lone Pac-10 game against UW.

“I don’t know if we shocked them, but I don’t think they thought we were a good team,” said wideout Cody Ellis, who made a juggling catch-and-run for Washington’s first score. … We just lost to Stanford and they probably figured they had it easy, cake, walk right into a bowl game. So, yeah, they’ve got to be a little shocked.”

To a man, WSU coaches and players said they thought of themselves as a bowl-worthy team. But they were forced to admit that they had cost themselves a guaranteed trip. And now they’ll head home for Thanksgiving, knowing that their fate is no longer in their own hands.

“That’s for somebody else to decide, which is unfortunate because we could have controlled that,” Brink said. “I hope somebody gives us a shot.”