Nathan Brian
Guest Writer
On a beautiful day on Lake Washington, there was a buzz in the pre-game air. As I walked through the purple and gold tailgaters on my way to the stadium, I was met with friendly amusement. People marveled at my orange and black and expressed their gratitude that ISU was willing to make the trip to Seattle.
Although there may not appear to be much in common between the PAC-12’s Washington Huskies and Idaho State, they have far more in common than you’d think. Both have a proud football tradition, each claim National Titles in their past, and both are trying to return to greatness. Washington recently endured the worst five-year stretch in the program’s history, lowlighted by Tyrone Willingham’s 0-12 disaster in 2008.
Idaho State is just removed from the disaster that was the John Zamberlin era. Washington brought in a new coach, Steve Sarkisian, for the 2009 season and has steadily improved. This season, the Huskies are now 3-0 (with a beatdown of Boise State) and ranked 16th in the AP Poll. Coach Mike Kramer has begun a similar transition as he seeks to “Restore the Roar” to our Bengals.
Washington took the opening kickoff and the Bengals were able to force and recover a fumble to stop the first drive. Unfortunately, these were pretty much the only two things that went well for Idaho State. Washington scored six touchdowns on their next six possessions to take a 42-0 lead with 6:27 left in the second quarter. At this point, Sarkisian literally called off the dogs, resting his offensive starters for the rest of the game.
Idaho State drove into Husky territory on three different occasions; with drives ending in a missed 47-yard field goal, interception, and missed 38-yard field goal. Other Bengal highlights include the defense stopping the Huskies on downs twice inside the red zone, getting out of the game relatively unscathed with a big game check to help fund the athletic department, and the fact that we did not give up 70 points like Weber State did in successive weeks to lesser opponents in Utah and Utah State.
Kramer was very complimentary of the sportsmanship displayed by Sarkisian and Washington. He said, “I’ve been coaching a long time, but the way Coach Sarkisian and staff treated us knowing that we were wounded was one of the most outstanding examples of sportsmanship and care of another team that I have ever seen.”
He continued, “I applaud Coach Sarkisian and the entire Husky organization for making sure we didn’t come out of this as badly humbled as we did last year at Nebraska.”
At 2-1, with a couple of expected wins and an expected loss under their belts, Idaho State now looks forward to UC Davis and the rest of the Big Sky slate. Washington showed ISU a lot this weekend: what it looks like to emerge from despair, how to be gracious hosts and, perhaps most importantly, what a fan base should look like.
Just over 67,000 people came out to support the team for a guaranteed win. These fans have been through down times, just like ISU, and yet they packed the stadium Saturday. It is time for our Bengal Boosters to do the same. Come out to the games, watch as this team takes another step towards a return to respectability, and then to prominence.
Our Bengals play at UC Davis this week, and then return home for Homecoming against the University of North Dakota on Oct. 5.
