The Ducks may have won the war Saturday, but Washington State likely won the holiday in the sun by taking a 27-19 loss to Washington.
The defeat dropped the Cougars to No. 15 in Monday’s Bowl Championship Series standings, putting them three spots out of the running for an “at-large” bid to the Rose Bowl and likely into the Holiday Bowl.
“It would be nice to win a bowl and be the, whatever, Little Brown Shoe Bowl champions,” Washington State head coach Bill Doba told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “It sounds like it might be the Holiday Bowl, and that’s a great bowl. It’s a lot of fun down in San Diego, and our team will have a good time.”
The Cougars are staying positive after their sixth-consecutive Apple Cup loss to Washington. The win allowed the Huskies to become bowl eligible, and they are tied with UCLA for sixth in the conference with a 4-4 Pacific-10 Conference record and 6-6 overall.
The victory also kept Washington from its first losing season since 1976.
“I don’t know if this saves our season,” Huskies head coach Keith Gilbertson told The (Tacoma) News Tribune. “It’s a marvelous moment. Then again, when you coach Washington your first job is to beat WSU. All that matters right now is that for the next 24 hours I get to be the happiest guy on the planet.”
Washington State got an early lead on Saturday with a field goal four minutes into the game. The Cougars were ahead, 16-7, at the beginning of the fourth quarter until Washington put together a 20-3 run for the 27-19 win.
With one minute and 10 seconds remaining in the game, Husky quarterback Cody Pickett found freshman Corey Williams for a 21-yard touchdown pass to take a 20-19 lead.
The two-point conversion failed, but 36 seconds later Washington linebacker Marquis Cooper intercepted a pass by Josh Swogger and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown, putting the Huskies up for good, 27-19.
“Every win is good,” Gilbertson said. “It’s like pizza.”
Although the Cougars were likely booted from contention for the Rose Bowl, not all of the players are taking it hard.
“We’re going to another great bowl,” Cougar senior Erik Coleman said. “When I first got here, a bowl was kind of a far shot, and now we’re competing for BCS bowls and (Pacific-10 Conference) titles. This program is on the rise. We’re getting good guys in, and good coaches. We have a good foundation. And we’re still going to a good bowl and there are a lot of things looking up here.”
Bowl bids for Pac-10 schools will most likely be handed out after the outcome of the Dec. 6 Oregon State at USC game.

Oregon’s schedule
The Ducks get some well-deserved days off this week as the team breaks from practice so that players can join their families for the Thanksgiving holiday.
“We’ll take three or four days off now, and come back the Monday after Thanksgiving and have a real generic practice since we most likely won’t know who we’re playing,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said after Saturday’s win. “We’ll try to keep in running shape, rehab some injuries and keep the competitive edge there.”

Parting shot
After the Civil War victory Saturday, senior Keith Lewis was again allowed to talk to the media.
“You’ve got to have respect for them for just lining up and believing in their system,” Lewis said.