Huskies let down everyone

By Ben Miller

Oct 16, 2005, 12:00 AM

EUGENE, Ore. -- For those of us in Washington, the Ducks are just that team we hate and used to beat every year. But after spending time in Oregon, I realized how much this rivalry means to the people down here. To the fans in Eugene and all over the state, the Washington-Oregon rivalry is about a football revolution. I'm sure that most of you know all about the play known simply as "the Pick," but for those of you who don't, here's a recap of the play that changed Duck football forever. In 1994, trailing 24-20, the Napoleon-Kaufman-led Huskies--who entered the game ranked ninth in the country -- had first and goal on the eight-yard line late in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Brock Huard then threw an out-route that ended up in the hands of nickleback Kenny Wheaton who returned it 97 yards for a touchdown, giving the Ducks a 31-20 win. That victory turned Oregon's season around. The Ducks went to their first trip to the Rose Bowl in 37 years. Nothing was the same again. You may ask why I am rehashing one of the painful moments in Washington football history, and it's simple: With everything you read and anything you see on game day in Eugene, you can't get away from that interception. Any article written about the rivalry game mentions it. In fact, Oregon officials play a video clip of that play on the big screen at Autzen Stadium not only before the Husky game, but before every game. Every game. It's that important to them. Because of that one play, the Ducks turned the corner not just to respectability, but to national significance. Years later, Joey Harrington would look down Times Square. Knowing this doesn't make Saturday's 45-21 beat-down any easier to take. It may make it an even harder pill to swallow. For Husky fans, a win over the Ducks would have meant something, but not on the level it does for them. "I think it's a great rivalry," coach Tyrone Willingham said after the game, but he added, "I don't think we lived up to our end of the bargain." He's not alone in that thinking either. For the last two years, it hasn't felt like the Huskies have taken the challenge. For the last two years, the Ducks have owned us. This year, we watched as all the forward progress the Huskies have made so far this season just vanished. The team we watched come so close to beating UCLA two weeks ago was all of the sudden gone, and in it's place was the same team we painfully watched last season. They won the turnover battle this time around (one to two), but that was about it. We watched a running game that just couldn't get it started, an already depthless secondary that lost more and a wide-receiving corps that couldn't hold onto the ball. Meanwhile, the Duck fans cheered with every stab at our defense. With every great play against the Dawgs, they keep revisiting the greatest play in their history and we keep reliving the worst season in ours. I think Willingham summed up the entire thoughts of Husky Nation after the game when he said: "I was very disappointed with our team today, not necessarily any one segment of the team, but all of our football team." He's right, so are we.

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