Inside The Huskies

USC Loss Could Send UW to Alamo Bowl to Face Sarkisian

Rose Bowl opportunity disappears with Utah win in Pac-12 title game.
Dan Raley|
USC Loss Could Send UW to Alamo Bowl to Face Sarkisian
USC Loss Could Send UW to Alamo Bowl to Face Sarkisian

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Washington Huskies

Well, USC was no help at all.

Not sure what happened to all of those first-team All-Pac-12 selections — nine, according to Pro Football Focus — and that Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, but the Trojans failed to show up for the Pac-12 championship game as advertised.

With USC getting manhandled by the Utah Utes 47-24 on Friday night at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, that outcome likely sent the University of Washington football team (10-2) to the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29 against the Big 12's third-place team in the Texas Longhorns (8-4) in San Antonio.

That means the Huskies would face former coach Steve Sarkisian, who left Montlake nine years ago to take the USC job, where he didn't last long.

First-year UW coach Kalen DeBoer had hoped for a USC victory that would have sent the Trojans to the College Football Playoff and in turn put his team in the Rose Bowl. Instead, Utah earned the Pasadena trip, while Lincoln Riley's team was left scrambling to find a postseason destination.

Sarkisian still remains the only head coach in the past 66 years to use the Husky job as a stepping stone to land another one in the college ranks — since Darrell Royal left the UW after a lone season in 1956 to become a coaching legend at Texas.

Under Sarkisian's lead for the past two seasons, the Longhorns have tried to return to national prominence after a lengthy malaise that had led to several coaching changes.  

Should the Alamo Bowl not involve the Huskies, they could end up in the Holiday Bowl, which earlier in the month was promoting a UW-Notre Dame matchup for the Dec. 30 game in San Diego.

The Alamo and Holiday bowls each sent representatives to the UW-Colorado game two weeks ago to show interest in the Huskies.

Bowl committees will spend the rest of the weekend horse-trading teams and trying to make sure all conference commitments are met as they complete a college football postseason lineup, which will be announced on Sunday.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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