The Huskies are set to kick off against the Cal Bears in about three and a half hours, and I feel a familiar thought moving from the back of my brain to the frontal cortex as I start typing this latest post. "This game will determine if the program has taken a step" or "UW has not been able to win on the road, does it all change after tonight?" or "the Huskies are better than Cal, can they prove it" or "this is the most important game on the Huskies schedule all year". All of these questions and thoughts are apt to describe how the Husky Loyal Army is feeling going into tonight.
UW sits at 4-4 (2-3) on the season, right about at expectations. Cal, in my eyes, was an easy win going into the season, and now it proves to be much more difficult than originally perceived (just like every game on the schedule so far, except for Portland State). You never know with Cal. Zack Maynard could go off and Cal always has NFL-level talent on either side of the ball. However, Cal lost to Utah by a wide margin last week while UW pulled off a nice upset over the Beavers at home, both of these results should prove why the Loyal Army should feel confident going into tonight's game. But you don't feel confident, do you? Every Husky fan is probably feeling the same way right now.
BUT......UW's recent success against Cal have come at times when the team has needed to prove itself and I don't think tonight will be any different. Whether or not that amounts to a much needed Husky win is one thing, but atleast that will give the team a little bit more confidence.
2009: Huskies host #19 Cal at Husky Stadium to end the regular season after a disappointing year. The goal was to have some momentum to take into the next year with Jake Locker debating whether or not to come back for his senior season, and guess what.......they rolled. A very motivating win with what looked like a contender moving into the 2010 season.
2010: UW goes on the road to play Cal for the last time at Memorial Stadium before its major remodel. The team was in desperate need of three consecutive wins to end the season to get a bowl birth. It had just beat UCLA at home on a Thursday night and only had WSU to play the week after. The game came down to a final play and Sark decided to go for the touchdown on a RUNNING PLAY and got it. Probably the most dramatic finish I have seen in Husky history. UW wins 16-13, beats WSU the next week and famously manhandles Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.
2011: The Huskies had just got thrashed on the road against Nebraska and were looking for a huge home win to put the season back on track. Keenan Allen absolutely went off in the first half of this game, but the Dawgs held on and beat Cal by a touchdown to start the season 3-1 and would win the next couple before a terrible finish. But that game was important because it showed the Huskies could bounce back and beat a team of equal talent.
Four straight wins over Cal is tough, really tough. Tonight's game should be close and without Keenan Allen on the field it should really work in UW's favor. What's on the line? You tell me. A win and your season looks like this 5-4 (3-3), lose and it looks like this 4-5 (2-4). To me, that says a lot.
Go Dawgs!!!
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