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October 28th, 2006. It's my senior year at Washington State. I'm sitting in my house with some friends watching the Cougs take on UCLA. DeMaundray Woolridge rumbles for a game clinching touchdown that gives the Cougs their sixth win of the year, making them bowl eligible with three games to play. My friends and I are making bowling motions. I declare that it is nice to finish my college career the same way it started, with a good Cougar football team.
Fast forward three weeks to November 18th, 2006. The Cougs come into the Apple cup having lost their previous two games and will actually require won more win to guarantee a trip to a bowl. Situation sound familiar?
It is exactly what the Huskies face today (Except for the fact that they are trying to get to 6 wins, and will go to a high-profile, decent payout bowl if they do. The Pac-10 just cannibalized the hell out of each other this year).
That 2006 game lives on as one of the worst sports days of my life, up there with the Seahawks' Super Bowl loss. From the elation three weeks earlier "knowing" my Cougs were once again relevant, to the despair of another extended offseason, to the anger of half the Martin Stadium turf being covered by purple-clad fans.
It was my Senior Day, my last game as a student (as long as you don't count when I was student teaching, which was not the same at all). I feared it may be the last time I would sit on the Martin Stadium student side in the front row and instead of celebrating what would have been the biggest Cougar victory since the Holiday Bowl, I was left staring in shock at the final score.
UW 35, WSU 32
Today, I would love nothing more than UW fans everywhere to know my pain. For their senior quarterback, who was on the sideline for that 2006 game, to have that same feeling I had four years ago. Let December 4th, 2010 be one of their worst days.
I haven't been a Cougar fan long (since my freshman year in 2003), so I haven't seen the Cougs have a chance ruin a Husky season in the Apple Cup. A win today would make 2006 feel a little better. With the gametime temperature in Pullman a sizzling 27 degrees, I don't need to tell you how that revenge would be served.