Maybe it's me. For 3 games in a row, 4 if you count The Bye's 4th quarter comeback and victory over Nebraska last week, I have sat in the stadium, whether in Lincoln or Eugene and have witnessed meltdown after meltdown after meltdown by Nebraska. Saturday was Blackout Night in Lincoln. The fans wear black, the team wears black, the end zones are black, there's a skull and crossbones at midfield and Black Death is on the sideline waiting for his moment. Never mind that Nebraska has had this event 5 prior times and lost every game (0-5), but hey it looks really "cool", right? RIGHT?
Go Big Red implies that the school colors are red. But this blackout ignores this. It's supposed to be fun to wear black and act all spooky and on Halloween night of all days. I saw scary clowns, Husky dog costumes, T Rex costumes, that scary clown again, skinny guys in Hulk Hogan gear (yes, he said brutha after every statement), a unicorn, princesses, people in purple (scary) and the true horror on the field, guys dressed in black fucking it all up yet again.
Indiana was on the ropes (for about 3 minutes) down 17-6 in the 4th quarter. They promptly hit a long pass TD sending the red clad fans into the inevitable knowledge that they were gonna lose (even though ahead by 4) . They did lose on yet another long TD pass 20-17.
Then came Eugene. A totally winnable game in which the offense was irrelevant. Oregon had a walk on QB (no idea why) play 3 1/2 quarters. Nebraska led 14-6 in quarter 4. Then in came ex Husker Dylan Raiola and it happened again. He led a game winning drive against his old team. 17-14 Oregon.
Then came a bye week. Bye won that 7-0. No details available but Bye scored in quarter 4 on oh hell why not the last play.
Washington came into the "scary" environment Halloween Night dressed in white. The cowered when they played Back in Black (or course), they hid in the medical tent from the booing students, and they begged for mercy from the scary clown. No, they did none of that. Blah blah blah on the first 58 minutes. Nebraska led the worst game I've ever seen live since 2005. With a minute 31 seconds to go, Nebraska up 7-3 and Washington faced a 4th and 18 on their own 40. It was over. Right? RIGHT? The PA announcer screamed into the mike about 3rd or 4th down (gawd he's annoying) and Washington's new QB (the Dylan Raiola of the week) threw a 22-yard completion. Then the very next play, same guy who caught the pass, caught another pass and ran into the end zone. 10-7 Washington. Then our $5 million dollar quarterback, under orders from our $6 Millon head coach, threw a nice cake topping pick 6 and then 17-7 Washington. To put in perspective, with 1:31 to go, 7-3 Nebraska. With 1:15 to go, 17-7 Washington. How? How does this happen every week?
Well, it happens every week because Nebraska has the inability to close. The coaching chokes, the players choke, the fans choke, the mascots choke, the black balloons choke, and the scary clown chokes. In fact the new mascot should be the Boston Strangler.
I know it's just football. I know it's not as important as oh lets say, heart surgery, but it is kind of important when the black clad fans pay upwards of thousands of dollars to go. And they will pay more when the Husker AD reseats everyone.
The sight of a half empty Penn State stadium, a half empty Oklahoma stadium and USC playing in front of a half empty stadium every week, this is the sign of things to come. The so-called blue bloods are in trouble. It was a warning.
Nobody puts up with this constant choking. Even the bottle throwing students pissed not at Washington, after all they just did what they were supposed to do, but at their own team choking away victory for the fourth time in a row. I have seen empty student sections in the past.
Half empty stadiums. That's my hope for that bogus 416 straight sellout string. End that now. Unless you are big fan of the Hillside Stranglers and say, yes by all means, choke me again.
Go Big Red arghhhhhhhhhh !
