I love football season, too.
We’ve reached the weekend, where our highly-ranked Washington State Cougars are up against a tough foe from California with hopes of winning and maintaining—and preferably improving—their national ranking.
I’m of course talking about your Washington State volleyball team.
But before the no. 4 ranked Cougs take on the no. 3 Stanford Cardinal tomorrow, there’s a football game being played at the Rose Bowl today. That’s where the no. 13 WSU football team is up against the one-loss UCLA Bruins and their mighty defense.
UCLA’s total defense is no. 8 in the nation, per cfbstats.com. The Bruins are holding teams to just 11 points a game, and the most points they’ve allowed is 14, which came in a loss to Utah on Sept. 23. The Utes are by far the best team UCLA has faced in the short season, so perhaps this is a case of early season inflated stats. Or maybe UCLA really is one of the better defensive teams in the nation. Guess we’ll find out!
It’ll be best on best as WSU’s offense comes in no. 6 in the nation.
WSU’s Lincoln Victor, injured in the Oregon State game two weeks ago, made the trip. Whether he plays is another thing. I’m guessing it’ll be a game-time decision. Earlier this week Jake Dickert indicated Victor was likely to miss today’s game, though he’s progressing better than expected.
We’ll see who lines up today at noon PT on the Pac-12 Network. Will this game go down as another classic WSU appearance at the Rose Bowl? Let’s review some past classics at the Rose Bowl:
2015 – Falk to Marks
This remains my favorite win of the Mike Leach era. UCLA could be accused of playing dirty, and Luke Falk – injured earlier in the game – came back and led WSU on a game-winning drive and sealed it with a floater to Gabe Marks in the end zone.
Hard to believe this was the last time WSU played at UCLA.
2002 – Cougs clinch Rose Bowl berth
WSU and a hobbled Jason Gesser, coming off a bad Apple Cup loss, won at UCLA to win the Pac-10. The highlight was a Colin Henderson to Mike Bush touchdown pass.
Jan. 1, 1998 – WSU plays in first Rose Bowl in 67 years
The ending wasn’t fun but Washington State being in the Rose Bowl was a huge, huge deal.
1988 – Cougs knock off no. 1 UCLA
The greatest non-Apple Cup win in WSU’s history. Troy Aikman and the Bruins had four tries at the end zone from the six-yard line and the WSU defense held.