CHEAP SEATS WITH STEVE CAMERON: Disaster from the Start for Huskies in Apple Cup

The moment the ball was intercepted you knew straight away.

Pictures of this spectacle will hang on the walls of every pub in Pullman.

And many counties in every direction.

Seriously.

You knew.

Washington football quarterback Will Rogers went down like the Titanic.

In a few seconds, bloody chaos will ensue and Wazzu will hold the Apple Cup in his hands forever.

This game, for reasons we all know, was THE Apple Cup — and Washington State crushed a Big Ten team and won.

UW coach Jedd Fisch was going to stare at the sky and say, “Why the hell did I call a timeout?”

Among other things, Fisch later criticized his own players and pointed out several mistakes before and during the crucial play on fourth down.

Elegant.

All of these things became obvious within a second of the game after the Huskies took possession of the ball on the Cougs’ 1-yard line.

About a minute left.

No time limits.

UW with fourth attempt in history.

Rogers is not a runner and never has been, so it’s amusing that Fisch called for a “speed option” for a quarterback who lacks speed.

Disaster struck in a split second when Cougs tight end Andrew Edson lunged at a blocker and knocked out Rogers.

YES, THIS ONE art is called an “option,” but Rogers had about as much of an option as the guy in the electric chair who was asked the question, “AC or DC?”

He could have been immediately overwhelmed by Edson or passed the ball to Jonah Coleman, which he did.

Wazzu player Kyle Thornton nearly caught Coleman in front of the ball and passed to him for a two-yard loss.

Playing ball.

And I’m not talking about just any game.

That’s why this last play was so important.

On the Palouse he will likely be known simply as “The Play.”

Forever.

Edson, Thornton and sophomore linebacker Taariq Al-Uqdah were the Cougs involved in swallowing Rogers and Coleman — but Fisch insisted it was his own players who made the mistake.

The coach especially highlighted his oldest setter, Keleki Latu.

Fisch said Latu was supposed to leave Al-Uqdah unblocked, and Rogers was supposed to decide whether to cut the ball inside if Al-Uqdah was holding Coleman — or make a play if it went the other way and Latu was blocking Thornton.

I’m sure Latu and many other UW players were impressed by Fisch’s detailed explanation of how Latu failed the university.

Now we have a real recruiting tool.

In fact, this was Fisch’s second serious blunder in this play.

First, he called a pass to Giles Jackson, who had eight receptions and was nearly impossible to catch — but THEN Fisch called a timeout to change the play to that option.

Another flaw in Fisch’s decision was that the Huskies had to run the short-side option.

In college, the sideline markers are located 60 feet from the field boundary, while in the NFL it is 70 feet, 9 inches.

In other words, Rogers had virtually no space or time to make the decision to leave the ball or pass to Coleman.

Finally, Fisch tried to compare his decision with the option that worked in the Apple Cup 2023.

Hey, COACH?

Kalen DeBoer’s decision in last year’s Apple Cup came long ago, when the team was competing against the Huskies, which meant there was a lot of open space on the field and the ball was carried by Rome Odunze, a fast, combative athlete.

It’s not the same.

The final odd part of the whole drama was Fisch trying to sell his commission long after the game had ended — and after he took responsibility at a press conference shortly after it happened.

Bottom line: The way this all played out made Cougs coach Jake Dickert look very good.

That’s okay, because Jake is the kind of person you want coaching your son — as a player and as a young man transitioning into adulthood.

Here’s a long-term look at how this thrilling Apple Cup ended.

In a head-to-head fight, Wazzu made the moves necessary to win the Cup.

I’m not sure if the Cougs are serious, but there are rumors that they plan to keep this tournament forever and introduce a new Apple Cup for next year’s competition.

Why not?

The trophy they had just taken to Pullman was the symbol of the Pac-12.

Perhaps the Huskies will get a new model from the Big Ten.

I’m in favor.

E-mail address: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s Cheap Seats column appears in The Press four times a week, usually Tuesday to Friday, unless, you know, something exceptional happens.

Steve advises you to take his opinions in the spirit of Jimmy Buffett’s song: “Breathe in, breathe out, move on.”