Friday Night Bites: Clemson, Wazzu Both Tumble
Published on 14-Oct-2017 by Alan Adamsson
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The traditions around Friday the 13th being a symbol of bad luck are hazy.
Suffice to say the number 12 was considered to be one with the known universe -- 12 months, Pythagorean numbers 3+4+5 equaled 12, etc -- so 13 was just off-kilter.
- Ancient and Biblical references weren't cool with 12. After all, Judas was the 13th dude at the last supper.
- Medieval Christians didn't like Friday being named after the Viking goddess Frigga. Paganism and all that.
Put those two factors together, and the Norse-descended Knights Templar were really hard done by.
That did not end well, but legend has it the few who escaped the purge scampered to what's now Switzerland and set up shop in another guise.
All this would fit rather neatly into a patented Mike Leach press conference.
After what hexed his Washington State Cougars on this Friday the 13th, no doubt he'd prefer that suject to talking about their 37-3 upset at the hands of the fair-to-middling California Bears.
Dabo Sweeney knows the feeling.
Earlier in the evening, his Clemson Tigers sorta wandered into the Carrier Dome and were bedazzled, 27-24, by a Syracuse Orange squad that had previously lost to the likes of Middle Tennessee.
The 'Cuse had itself a night in upstate New York.
Coach Dino Babers had his club totally bought in before the game and ready to run through a wall for him after it.
Damn. Gotta wonder what he does to get them fired up for study hall.
Sweeney had his trials and tribs building a program at Clemson, and he clearly hasn't forgotten what nights like this mean to a team trying to be on the rise.
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Justin Wilcox knows the Pac-12, playing at Oregon and serving as defensive coordinator at both Washington and USC.
He hired Beau Baldwin as offensive coordinator, enticing him away from being The Man at Eastern Washington. He may not be a CalBear for long; Oregon State needs a coach again, and he was short-listed last time.
Until then, he joined Wilcox in putting a spell on the Cougars:
This was only Wazzu's second road trip of the year. They've got four more.
California's a young club and frustratingly inconsistent. Fortunately for them, this was not one of those nights.
In fact, like Syracuse, they're probably not inclined to believe all this superstition stuff right about now.
They'll take results like these any day of the week.