In this three-part series, A Blogger, Idiot takes you on the road as he follows the Washington Huskies football team on its ongoing quest to return to prominence.
PART 1: 9/8/2012 - Washington at #3 LSU
The advent of college football has once again broken up my normal Saturday routine of Jason Statham action movie marathons (which are usually followed on Sundays by Jason Statham action movie character role-play-in-public).
The Washington Huskies (nine months removed from one of the great bowl games of 2011) opened their campaign this fall with a win, albeit against an overmatched San Diego State team. The next test would be much more sizable: a trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to take on LSU, in what would be the first contest between the two schools in 30 years. Friend of the blog, fellow UW alum, and consummate road trip enthusiast Brian and I long ago resolved to make the trip - and to turn it into a memorable excursion through the uncharted deep south.
Thursday, September 6
Our flights arrive in Dallas, which was to be the jumping-off point. The first order of business was to pick up our rental car, a Fiat 500 convertible. In the subsequent transpiration of events it was revealed that our reservation was of no value in the department of actually saving the chosen and preferred vehicle, and we were relegated to leaving the lot in a Mini Cooper1. Nevertheless, we continued a somewhat meaningless tradition: one person drives away from the lot while the other runs alongside and jumps into the moving car.
Soon after breaking away from the metro area, storm clouds swiftly moved in, and their violent discharge proved the first serious test to the Mini's fortitude. Lightning strobed around us, providing brief moments of improved visibility amidst the sheets of driving rain. Our reward for fighting through the tempest was a golden-tinged Texas tableau as daylight faded and the matter of locating a home for the night2 started to assert itself.
Friday, September 7
We crossed from Tallulah, LA into Vicksburg, MS, and in doing so laid eyes for the first time on the mighty Mississippi River. Civil war cannon still dot the riverbank in Vicksburg, retired to eternal slumber.
In the course of a day spent venturing southward, the landscape of rural Mississippi would gradually give way to the Louisiana Bayou, and then to the city of New Orleans.
Brian and I soon joined what must have been several thousand other purple-clad Husky fans in the dusky streets of the French Quarter. Dinner that night was one of several Road Trip Captain: Taste of the Town highlights3:
Saturday, September 8
I whispered a joyous "Hallelujah!" when it dawned on me that I had awoken not in Tallulah, but high above downtown New Orleans. For some reason it was already 11:00, though, a reality that cramped any plans for further adventure in the city. After a hasty breakfast we left town, bound for LSU.
Baton Rouge is an 80 mile drive from New Orleans. The drive is made shorter by the frenetic pace of Louisiana drivers, who, regardless of the speed limit, seem quite unwilling to let their speedometers dip below 90. That sort of pace, of course, was pushing the very limits of what the Mini could do, but to her credit she held together.
The pre-game scene on campus lived up to expectations: a sea of tailgates and pretty southern girls, the kind of recipe that took my thoughts off of some other less desirable facts:
Concerning LSU:
Going into the game, they were ranked #3 in the Associated Press top 25
Going into the game, they had won 38 consecutive games against non-conference opponents (LSU is in the SEC; UW is in the PAC-12)
They have a 6'-4", 245 pound defensive tackle named Barkevious Mingo who runs a 4.5 second 40-yard dash5.
Concerning UW:
Going into the game, due to injuries they were down to 1 of the 5 players thought in the spring to be starting on the offensive line.
Going into the game, due to injuries they were down to 1 of the 3 players thought in the spring to be key contributors at running back.
First quarter - UW kicks off and promptly forces a fumble, recovering the ball within the LSU 20-yard line. But the Huskies would squander the early chance to get in the end zone, as a pair of young players both drop catchable passes that would have led to scores. A field goal is the best Washington can muster.
It turns out those were the only points the Huskies would score all game. Meanwhile, two horrendous punts would set up LSU for short touchdown drives later in the quarter, leading to a 14-3 margin.
Second quarter - While LSU's team speed on defense was clearly a problem for the opposing offense, UW's defense was, by my judgment, not doing all that poorly. They were put onto the field too quickly and too often, but did a good job containing plays against a physical team. LSU tacked on a pair of field goals in the second quarter and at the break, the score was 20-3.
Third quarter - The game's final crucial moment came when an LSU pass appeared to travel backwards and result in a fumble. A Washington player scooped the ball up and took with him into the end zone for an apparent defensive touchdown. As the play was well into its development, however, one of the referees away from the ball blew his whistle, and signaled that it had been an incomplete pass. A subsequent replay review (which multiple fans in Seattle texted to me conclusively showed a backwards pass) somehow failed to overturn the call. What could have been a 20-10 score swung to 27-3 after LSU finally managed a long pass play for a touchdown.
From here on out it was desperation time for the UW offense, which could never get anything going. LSU tacked on a couple more scores in garbage time. The final count - 41-3 - settled in as a bigger and bigger letdown as Brian and I drove away from Baton Rouge that evening. That kind of a score in a nationally televised game is nothing short of an embarrassment, yet much of the game felt competitive. I expected more out of the Washington offense, and perhaps that was foolish considering how banged up they were. LSU may wind up playing for a National Championship this season; we will see. It's clear that UW is still not ready to derail teams of that caliber. What's not clear to me yet is exactly what the identity of this team will be for the remainder of 2012. My next chance to see them in person will be in Berkeley in early November.
1The design intent behind the 2011 version is approximately this: take all established vehicle conventions, especially those that involve ease of use / interior cockpit functionality, and scrap them. For example: there are two speedometers (including one giant one in the center of the dash), the stock entertainment system is shaped and sized in such a way that it is impossible to replace, the auxiliary input to said entertainment system is located in a strange cranny which is entirely out of view, on-board "mood lighting" is impossible to turn off, steering wheel positioning interferes with the legibility of all crucial gauges, etc. What the car lacks in intuitiveness it makes up for in also being very sluggish: during a series of not-so-thrilling road tests, Brian and I ascertained the Mini's 0-60 time to be ~11.5 seconds.
2Before ultimately settling comfortably in a modest chain hotel, we found - and quickly rejected - what may be the most grotesque lodging in all of America: the Holiday Capri Motel. Ask me about it sometime and I'll tell you a few stories.
3In order:
5A Blogger, Idiot, measuring 5'-11" and 170-something pounds, is not quite that fast, but still faster than the Mini's 0-60 time.
First quarter - UW kicks off and promptly forces a fumble, recovering the ball within the LSU 20-yard line. But the Huskies would squander the early chance to get in the end zone, as a pair of young players both drop catchable passes that would have led to scores. A field goal is the best Washington can muster.
It turns out those were the only points the Huskies would score all game. Meanwhile, two horrendous punts would set up LSU for short touchdown drives later in the quarter, leading to a 14-3 margin.
Second quarter - While LSU's team speed on defense was clearly a problem for the opposing offense, UW's defense was, by my judgment, not doing all that poorly. They were put onto the field too quickly and too often, but did a good job containing plays against a physical team. LSU tacked on a pair of field goals in the second quarter and at the break, the score was 20-3.
Third quarter - The game's final crucial moment came when an LSU pass appeared to travel backwards and result in a fumble. A Washington player scooped the ball up and took with him into the end zone for an apparent defensive touchdown. As the play was well into its development, however, one of the referees away from the ball blew his whistle, and signaled that it had been an incomplete pass. A subsequent replay review (which multiple fans in Seattle texted to me conclusively showed a backwards pass) somehow failed to overturn the call. What could have been a 20-10 score swung to 27-3 after LSU finally managed a long pass play for a touchdown.
From here on out it was desperation time for the UW offense, which could never get anything going. LSU tacked on a couple more scores in garbage time. The final count - 41-3 - settled in as a bigger and bigger letdown as Brian and I drove away from Baton Rouge that evening. That kind of a score in a nationally televised game is nothing short of an embarrassment, yet much of the game felt competitive. I expected more out of the Washington offense, and perhaps that was foolish considering how banged up they were. LSU may wind up playing for a National Championship this season; we will see. It's clear that UW is still not ready to derail teams of that caliber. What's not clear to me yet is exactly what the identity of this team will be for the remainder of 2012. My next chance to see them in person will be in Berkeley in early November.
1The design intent behind the 2011 version is approximately this: take all established vehicle conventions, especially those that involve ease of use / interior cockpit functionality, and scrap them. For example: there are two speedometers (including one giant one in the center of the dash), the stock entertainment system is shaped and sized in such a way that it is impossible to replace, the auxiliary input to said entertainment system is located in a strange cranny which is entirely out of view, on-board "mood lighting" is impossible to turn off, steering wheel positioning interferes with the legibility of all crucial gauges, etc. What the car lacks in intuitiveness it makes up for in also being very sluggish: during a series of not-so-thrilling road tests, Brian and I ascertained the Mini's 0-60 time to be ~11.5 seconds.
2Before ultimately settling comfortably in a modest chain hotel, we found - and quickly rejected - what may be the most grotesque lodging in all of America: the Holiday Capri Motel. Ask me about it sometime and I'll tell you a few stories.
3In order:
- Barbecued shrimp, Star Steak & Lobster House, New Orleans, LA
- "Squealer" sandwich, Pete's, Mount Pleasant, TX
- Fried catfish, The Fish Fry, Brookhaven, MS4
- Barbecued crab, Sartin's Seafood, Nederland, TX
4Maybe it was the disorienting humidity, or maybe it was her simple, small town ways - in any case, I took a wife in Mississippi. Communication has, admittedly, been a little one-sided (see the romantic note I scrawled on the back of a receipt, below), but I'm not concerned; the waitress from The Fish Fry is probably just trying to get the bridal party finalized before confirming a date with me.
5A Blogger, Idiot, measuring 5'-11" and 170-something pounds, is not quite that fast, but still faster than the Mini's 0-60 time.
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