That really did happen

To say the least it was an amazing weekend. No, I didn’t do any Christmas shopping because I don’t want to start something I can’t pay for. No, the sports world gods decided that the traditional last weekend of the football season should have a new winner this year.

It started on Friday late afternoon in Seattle when WSU defeated the UW Huskies 40-13. To be honest it wasn’t that close. The Huskies started another Huard at quarterback but the young freshman threw 4 interceptions and the Cougars shredded a once proud Husky defense. The only problems the Cougars had was scoring TDs near the goal line twice and missing a field goal late in the first half. Otherwise the final score would have been over 50.

It has been a while since the Cougars have prevailed over the Huskies so this victory was apple pie sweet for the Cougars and Granny Smith tart for the Huskies. The win solidified interim head coach Jake Dickert as the 34th Head Coach of WSU Cougar football. Congratulations Coach!

Michigan defeated The Ohio State Buckeyes early Saturday afternoon to finally get the monkey off Wolverine head coach Jim Harbaugh. This was a huge win and put the Wolverines into the Big 10 championship game next Saturday. OSU was favored to win this game as they had been playing great football the past several weeks but the Michigan boys were determined and earned this win.

On Saturday, Alabama rallied to beat Auburn in the Iron Bowl 24-22 in four overtimes. The low scoring affair was dominated by Auburn but in the end only the final score matters and Alabama moves on to play Georgia in the SEC championship game next Saturday. If Georgia wins they are in the National Championship final four as the Number 1 seed. If Alabama wins then I would think that both Alabama and Georgia will be in the final four. Go Dawgs!

In games played Saturday night Oklahoma State outlasted Oklahoma in a highly entertaining rivalry game 37-33. The game wasn’t decided until OU failed to score on a fourth and goal play when a freshman defensive lineman from OSU sacked the freshman QB from OU. This game was marred by fumbled punts and penalties on both teams. On Sunday, OU Head Coach Lincoln Riley was announced as the next coach for the USC Trojans. After the season that the Trojans have had a new voice of reason is necessary. It was a surprising move but maybe Riley figured that since the Sooners will be moving onto the SEC in a few years it was time for him to restore a once proud football dynasty into at least a winning program.

Next week’s ACC championship game will feature the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. No Clemson this year. I think this is good for college football when new teams get to battle for a conference championship. I’m sure Clemson will be flexing its muscles next year but they can watch the championship game from the sidelines or the TV room next week.

On Saturday afternoon at Roos Field in Cheney the EWU Eagles battled the Northern Iowa Panthers in a first round playoff game. The Panthers are a typical Midwest team with big linemen and physical running backs. There were a few surprises in this game. The Panthers marched down the field and had a first and goal from the one yard line and the Eagle defense held them out of the end zone on four consecutive plays.

The Eagle defense only gave up one TD all day. This was certainly a bend but don’t break kind of day for the Eagle defense. The EWU offense made the home crowd nervous as there were very few big plays to be had the entire day. Maybe the most surprising aspect of the game was that the Eagles won the game by only scoring 19 points. But a win is a win ugly or pretty we move on. Next up for Eastern is the Montana Grizzlies in Missoula on Friday night. Maybe the boys saved their offense for this week.

One of the biggest upsets of the day happened on the basketball court in Pullman Saturday afternoon. The EWU Eagles had started out the season with mixed results and the WSU Cougars were undefeated and showing the Pac 12 that they were a team to be reckoned with.

The Eagles lost a multitude of talent to several different teams through the transfer portal from their NCAA team last spring as well as their head coach. Down 18 at halftime the Eagles would rally to give the Cougars their first loss of the season 76-71. And yes that really did happen.