UW Football History Provides Hope for Upset of LSU
Saturday night's nationally-televised Washington vs. Louisiana State football tussle at Husky Stadium won't be much of a contest. At least Vegas doesn't think so. Noting that UW didn't win a game last year, and the Tigers are ranked #9 in the nation, some oddsmakers have LSU favored by more than two touchdowns.
But we don't want to rely just on some bookie's opinion, so let's talk about what can happen when a national title contender (like LSU) plays an early season game 2,000 miles from home in a loud, hostile stadium against an unranked power conference team (like Washington).
One thing that can happen is that the national title contender will get stomped. Ask the 1983 Washington Huskies, who in September of that year traveled to (COINCIDENCE ALERT) Louisiana State University as the proud possessors of a #9 ranking, and left having absorbed one of the worst losses of the Don James era.
Facing a record Tiger Stadium crowd of 83,390, the Dawgs wilted against unranked LSU. Washington committed 109 yards worth of penalties, and permitted future NFLer Dalton Hilliard to run for 121 yards. Meanwhile star UW running back Jacque Robinson (r.) managed just 21 yards on the ground. (Perhaps he was distracted due to upheaval in his personal life--son and future NBAer Nate was born eight months later.)
The Huskies--who had 17 future NFL draftees on the roster--left Baton Rogue on the ouch end of a 40-14 beatdown, and with their dreams of a national title tossed into the wind like so much Chef Paul Prudhomme Magic Seasoning.
This '09 Washington team, sporting a 14-game losing streak, isn't the equal of that '83 LSU team, which had played #1 Nebraska tough in the Orange Bowl the year before. But if the national contender in Saturday's matchup suffers an utter collapse like the Huskies did 1,353 Saturdays ago, ESPN's national audience could end up seeing a close game. And those know-it-all Vegas bookies will have to include crow in their breakfast buffet.
