Huskies Hope What Happens in Vegas, Doesn't Stay in Vegas
The Washington football coach is on his way out. The Huskies quarterback might not be far behind him. Boise State would rather be at the Cotton Bowl. The stadium hosting everyone is set to close in the spring.
Welcome to the Afterthought Bowl, where everyone is thinking of being somewhere else.
While the 28th Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl might turn out to be a memorable evening of college football--with Chris Petersen coaching his final UW game against his previous employer, a quaint made-for-TV storyline for ABC--or it could be an emotional challenge.
The Huskies have had a few of these in their 38-game bowl history. And the final score hasn't always been the determining factor in whether everyone had a good time or didn't enjoy the postseason moment.
Here are three postseason encounters that no one replays or brags about, bowls where the UW has never gone back a second time, where the surroundings dulled the football senses somewhat:
1987 Independence Bowl
In out-of-the-way Shreveport, Louisiana, the Huskies beat Tulane 24-12. However, this place might have been responsible for the smallest crowd in modern times to watch the UW play. As a steady mist fell on the stadium, not quite 15,000 people huddled together in the stands. Second-half scoring consisted of a Green Wave field goal and an intentional safety served up by the visitors from Seattle.
Brash UW linebacker Jay Roberts, leaving bowl practice one day at a local high school and looking around at the stark surroundings, summed up what everyone was probably thinking when he blurted out, "We're in a (bleep) bowl." That redacted word rhymed with pretty.
2013 Fight Hunger Bowl
Washington showed up in San Francisco without its head football coach. Steve Sarkisian had bolted for USC, becoming the first Huskies leader in six decades to give up the coveted coaching job without retiring or getting fired.
The Huskies won 31-16 over BYU in a game known now as the Redbox Bowl, which was a nice conclusion to a messy situation. No one missed Sarkisian. Assistant coach Marques Tuiasosopo stepped in and kept the team together, with Petersen hired and waiting in the wings. Tuiasosopo did a masterful job of keeping everyone motivated. Yet a short time later, he joined Sarkisian and the Trojans--and began formulating ways to beat the UW whenever the Huskies came up on the schedule.
1998 Oahu Bowl
Before the game, UW athletic director Barbara Hedges gave a vote of confidence to Huskies football coach Jim Lambright, who was having a tough season. A 45-25 setback to Air Force in Honolulu at this low-level bowl, dropping the team to 6-6, got the boosters all riled up.
The alums pressured Hedges into reversing course. She moved quickly to fire Lambright and hire Rick Neuheisel, cutting the last ties to the Don James era. It was a move that had disastrous results, because Neuheisel later got fired, too, and the program sank to unimaginable depths--the Huskies went to no bowl games from 2003-09. Hard to believe, but the UW had no postseason reward for seven long years.
Next Up
The Las Vegas Bowl promises to be a new beginning for Washington, with the inspirational Jimmy Lake on hand to help usher out Petersen in style and welcome a fresh approach. The players genuinely care about their old coach so they should play hard for him.
"We're all about finishing," the Huskies' All-Pac-12 cornerback Elijah Molden said in the video. "And sending (Petersen) out the right way."
But emotions have a funny way of affecting people, especially when there might be just 25,000 in the stands with Christmas keeping people preoccupied.
Somewhat lost in the equation is the fact the UW is playing a really good Boise State team that had just one stumble in 12-1 season, letting a lead slip away and losing to BYU 28-25 on the road. This is no gimme.
For the first time this season, the Huskies won't have tight end Hunter Bryant or left tackle Trey Adams, two first-team All-Pac-12 picks, in the lineup. Again, they're safeguarding their health as they await the NFL draft. Starting quarterback Jacob Eason, and only he knows, could be making his final UW appearance.
The UW and Boise State also will play at Sam Boyd Stadium, which is named after a former roulette dealer who went on to bigger things and is closing down. This likely is the final football game played there. The fate of the facility is undetermined--whether it gets torn down or repurposed.
Future bowl games and the UNLV and NFL Raiders home schedules will be played in new Allegiant Stadium that opens in 2020, a place that should add considerable glitz and possibly elevate this postseason game to greater importance.
That UW linebacker Jay Roberts, who's now deceased, would like that.
