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This is a story about the life of a college football team season in just two games: one was abject heartbreak and the other was extreme joy. The team was the University of Washington this season.
Charles Dickens wrote this famous line in his novel A Tale of Two Cities: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”, and the Husky football players experienced these two events in reverse order.
The Huskies finished their 2008 season with a winning record of 0-12. They opened their 2009 season at home against the then-ranked 11th-ranked Louisiana State University Tigers. Having lost 14 straight games over two seasons, the faithful Husky could be forgiven for expecting the worst.
Washington surprised everyone, and especially LSU, by taking kickoff and marching down the field to score a touchdown. The Huskies warmed to new head coach Steve Sarkisian, who would quickly become known as “Sark” and gain celebrity status among the Western Washington sports community.
At the end of LSU’s opening game, the Huskies won the statistical battle of ball movement, but lost the war, 31-23.
In their next home game against the Idaho Vandals, the Washington Huskies essentially scored on their first 5 possessions to win on the road, 42-23, and snap their 15-game losing streak.
In their third game of the season, again on home turf, something almost miraculous happened: Washington stunned then-third-ranked Southern California 16-13 on a 22-yard field goal by Erik Folk with just 3 seconds remaining in the game. final. play.
A 2-1 start made the Huskies the talk of Seattle and even the nation due to Southern Cal’s enormous success (at least 11 wins and BCS bowl appearances for 7 straight years) and their high ranking in the polls. .
Then the Huskies hit the road for their first road game of the year and collided with a rejuvenated Stanford Cardinal team and their bruised 6-foot-1, 237-pound senior running back Toby Gerhart, who rushed for 200 yards and exposed the Huskies. Inept boarding skills.
Washington’s young, talented but inexperienced players couldn’t stop Gerhart, a battering ram who simply ran past the Huskies.
Stanford was a huge disappointment for the Huskies following their upset win over Southern Cal, and another road trip to South Bend, Indiana, to face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish was looming. This is where our story of a two-game season really begins.
There is no college football program with more history than Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have won 11 national championships, have 12 undefeated seasons and another 10 seasons with at least one loss or tie, have produced more All-Americans than any other school, have produced 7 Heisman Trophy winners, and have the coach with the best . All-Time Record: Knute Rockne had 105 wins, 12 losses and 5 draws in 13 years while leading the Fighting Irish to 6 national championships.
Washington players who Googled “Notre Dame” could quickly become intimidated by its legend, lore and tradition. When he lines up at middle linebacker on game day, one could easily imagine ghosts coming out of the backfield looking for another conquest.
But this year’s version of the Washington Huskies stuck to reality. As bad as Washington’s defensive tackle was, Notre Dame’s didn’t look much better, and a battle of wills ensued.
With less than a minute left in the third quarter, Notre Dame invoked its storied tradition to prevent Jake Locker from scoring on the quarterback’s two sneak attempts from the 1-yard line; the Huskies had to give up the ball with the score Washington 24 and Notre Dame 19. Had the Huskies scored, they would have gone up 31-19 and perhaps broken Notre Dame’s back.
It was a bitter pill for Jake Locker, Washington’s most talented and versatile player (Husky coaches have said Locker could play 7 different positions on the field), to swallow. He had practically carried a lousy Washington team behind his back for two years, and now his offensive line couldn’t move the Irish even 6 inches back.
Then Chris Polk, the Husky’s surprising redshirt freshman running back, appeared to give the Huskies a 30-22 lead with a 6-yard touchdown run with 7:07 remaining, but after a review, it was ruled out at the half yard line. This was a spoof as Polk had noted, but someone forgot to give the official replay a better set of eyes; he maybe he was a close fan of Notre Dame.
On 1st down from the Notre Dame 1-yard line, Polk lost a yard as the Fighting Irish line held. On second down, Locker passed incomplete. On third down and 2, Locker scrambled and the Irish line held again. On the fourth down, Notre Dame held again but was penalized 1 yard and Washington had another series of downs.
On 1st down, Polk ran again and the Irish held again. On 2nd down, Washington was penalized 5 yards. On the repeat second down, Locker passed 5 yards to fullback Paul Homer and the Huskies were again within 1 yard of scoring. On the third try, Locker lunged again and again at the Irish line. On the fourth down, Washington was penalized 5 yards, and on the repeat fourth down, Washington would settle for a field goal, making it 27-22 for the Huskies.
Incredibly, the Huskies had 6 chances to score on the Irish from 2 yards or less, and the Irish defense, which hadn’t played well all day, held the line. Polk, who fell short on two of the attempts, would finish the day with a career-best 136 rushing yards for the redshirt freshman.
Notre Dame responded immediately with a touchdown and 2-point conversion to go up 30-27.
With 1:20 left in the game, Locker, the best quarterback to don a jersey at the University of Washington since Marques Tuiasosopo in 2000, calmly marched his Huskies down the field and Erik Folk made a 37-minute field goal. yards to tie the score. game at 30 and send it to overtime.
Tuiasosopo is the son of former NFL defensive lineman Manu Tuiasosopo and older brother of NFL fullback Zach Tuiasosopo and Seattle Mariners third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo. Jake Locker is in good company.
Notre Dame quickly scored first in overtime to go up 37-30, and then Washington’s offensive line, which had been 6 plays late, allowed Locker to be sacked for 10 yards, and Locker threw three incomplete passes. His last pass, a 33-yard pass to the 1-yard line, was stopped by D’Andre Goodwin, who suffered a concussion after taking two vicious hits from Notre Dame defenders on the goal line.
The inglorious ending left Locker, Goodwin, the entire team and coaching staff with one big case of abject heartbreak. After calmly fighting like the warrior that he is, Locker was so devastated and emotional that he couldn’t show up at the postgame press conference.
(Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a 2-part series.)
Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley
