Cougars Can't Take the Pressure, Again.

We are wrong a lot, and on Saturday evening it was a great feeling to have this fact proven once again.

Last week we picked the beloved Huskies to lose the Apple Cup; however, we forgot that they would be playing the Cougars, which means that even a crappy U-Dub team has a very good chance at a win.

As Emmett Watson pointed out in his Friday column, the Cougars have only won 29 of the 98 Apple Cups.

Any time the Cougars win the game, it makes their season and their fans can love life again. Meanwhile Husky fans are used to winning the game. A victory is more of a relief. Because of this, the game means so much more to Cougar fans than the Husky faithful, thereby putting all of the pressure on the Cougar players. This is especially true when the Cougars are expected to win the game.

From 2001 through last Saturday, the Cougs were favored to win the Apple Cup, and have done so only twice. In 2002 they were the number three team in the country, and had a very legitimate shot to play in the National Championship Game. They lost at home to a mediocre Husky team. Comparably in 2000, the Huskies were number three and won 51-3 in Pullman.

On Friday the Time's Bob Condotta wrote of Washington's arrival in Pullman, "One observer said the team seemed loose, looser than it often has been for road games this year." Meanwhile on the radio before the game the Cougars were described as tight.

Next year's game will be played at Husky Stadium meaning that the Cougars will be able to get out of Pullman, and put some distance between them and all of that pressure, something that may help them...oh, who we are we kidding—The 2007 Apple Cup: Huskies 38, Cougars 27.