Washington State Rings Up a Bowl Victory for the Pac-12

A common description of luck is that which happens when preparation meets opportunity.

That kinda luck, though, only starts to describe the 2018 season for Gardner Minshew II.

Dude didn't just seize the moment, he stylized it in his own image, which from all accounts, didn't fully emerge until he snubbed being a third-stringer and coach-in-training at Alabama and took his talents to beautiful downtown Pullman.

 

Oh, the irony.

Field of Dreams was set in Iowa. That's around three hours' drive from Ames, home of the Iowa State Cyclones. Matt Campbell's doing his damndest to build the football version there.

But Pullman's the haven for Wazzu, that capital of feistiness where students once reveled in being disqualified from Playboy's list of top party schools because, as the magazine said, it's not fair to rank professionals with amateurs.

 

Whether or not Minshew ever heard of that distinction, dude further enhanced his meteoric legend by playing right into it:

 

And when the Alamo Bowl came around, dude did his part to keep the party going as the Cougars emerged victorious in a 28-26 thriller.

There was so much weirdness and wonder in this game that only extended highlights could do it justice:

 

One of Minshew's -- and the game's -- biggest plays came in the fourth quarter with the Cougars clinging to their lead.

LB Peyton Pelleur had ripped the ball from Iowa State's David Montgomery to start a drive that led to RB Max Borghi's TD sprint.

That score happened because another bitta Minshew magic extended the drive on third-&-long:

 

At game's end, something' had to be momentous for Mike Leach to smile in public, and maybe it was capping Wazzu's first-ever 11-win season that did it.

Or possibly, it might've been winning a bowl game not all that far from Lubbock.

Then again, the Pirate could've been pleased to be the Pac-12's bowl season savior, putting a conference team in the win column after Arizona State and California stumbled.

 

Odds are now strong -- where they were once non-existent -- that Minshew's gonna get a shot in the NFL next year.

Leach has a kajillion receivers returning -- his schemes usually enable up to 10 receivers to haul in at least one pass -- and needs to develop another helmsman for the task.

Whoever it is will have quite the act to follow.