TERRY MOSHER
JOHN ROSS
Have you ever been in a competitive situation where you were the clear favorite but had a large crowd lustily cheering against you? I mean really, really hoping that you would lose to the point that you were being loudly booed whenever you did something successfully during the competition and when your opponent did something well the cheers were deafening?
Well, welcome to Friday night at 6 p.m. when the Washington Huskies take on Colorado for the Pac-12 football championship at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
The Huskies are the clear favorites by the odds-makers (7.5 points), but there is a large percentage of people across this great nation that are hoping – no, begging – that the Huskies lay a stink bomb and lose to the Buffaloes. It’s an odd conundrum that faces the Huskies, who go into battle with a 11-1 record and with a win will likely – I say likely because there are plenty of people who would want the word to be unlikely – propel them into the NCAA national semifinals and a chance to add their first national football championship since the 1991 team, which I consider as the best I have seen.
This situation is a serious national conversation that can be heard from coast-to-coast on shock jock sports radio and on national TV talk shows. The reason why it is such a hot topic – I have heard numerous arguments the past 24 hours – is because most people, and this includes the football committee that ranks teams for the four-team football playoffs, believe what Washington’s No. 4 ranking is shakily weak and that even if the Huskies beat Colorado there is a chance Michigan or, say, Penn State might jump over them into that last spot in the rankings.
The theory goes that for Washington to hold on to its position the Huskies must beat Colorado convincingly or else their position might be in danger. What shock jocks have been saying is that if No. 3 Clemson beats Virginia Tech as expected and Washington, which is sitting shakily in the fourth spot because of its weak non-conference schedule, just nips Colorado, it’s possible that Michigan, which has finished its regular season, could be pushed into the fourth spot in the final rankings that come out Tuesday because the Wolverines have had a tougher schedule even though they are a two-loss team.
I’m amused by all this. Fearful, but amused. I lived my first 13 years in New York State and I have always been an avid sports guy that thought he knew what was going on in the sports world. However, we seldom back then got news from the West Coast because of the three hours difference in time zones. As a result, I barely knew that Washington existed. In fact, I didn’t know. You would be surprised how little people east of the Mississippi know about what is going on out here.
As a result of what is called an East Coast Bias – Edgar Martinez’s election to the Baseball Hall of Fame is a victim of this bias, although I think the message is getting out now – teams out there don’t get as much respect as they should. That is a little what is going on with this Washington thing.
But it is also clear that by playing Portland State, Idaho and hapless Rutgers, as the Huskies did in their first three games that hurt their strength of schedule argument and hurt them with the people who make up the football committee.
What I find disgusting is that one of the committee members went on national TV and radio after the rankings came out Tuesday and went to great pain to say that the difference between No. 4 Washington and No. 5 Michigan wasn’t much. The committee was sharply divided between the two and by only a hair did the Huskies get the No. 4 spot.
By taking great effort to make this public, it suggests to me that the committee was setting the stage to protect its butt if they decide to reverse the rankings of those two in the final on Tuesday. It also gave the shock jocks a foot in the door to say that they would not be surprised if Michigan gets the No. 4 spot in the final rankings.
So there you have it. If the Huskies win, but just barely on Friday, and Clemson wins, it’s possible that the committee might jump Michigan to that last spot. If that happens the screaming that will come from the West Coast will rattle windows in Trump Tower.
Most of the Midwest and the East Coast will be tuned to their TVs Friday night hoping beyond hope that the favored Huskies stumble and their favorite teams – Penn State with a convincing win against Wisconsin for the Big-10 title could also sneak into a playoff spot – will make the playoffs.
So the cheering we might hear out here whenever the Huskies fail to make a first down or surrender a touchdown or field goal or lose the ball on a fumble or interception or quarterback Jake Browning gets sacked, will probably be coming from the other side of the Mississippi and from those Michigan and Penn State fans, students and the players themselves.
The Washington Huskies will, in effect, be the bad guys in this match-up and if looks and words can break bones, the Huskies will be a mess before Friday night is over.
It’s going to be interesting, to say the least.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.