Wazzu Goes Retro, Cougs It by Blowing a 32-Point Lead in Loss to UCLA

So, what does a slinger who tosses for an incredible nine TDs do at the final whistle?

In Anthony Gordon's case, he wonders why his fleet of elite receivers can hold on to those passes but not alleged possession passes.

In other words, the ones that keep key drives alive.

Three of those wound up bouncing mischieviously on the turf and into the surer hands of UCLA defenders.

 

Toss in Wazzu's muscle-memory loss of tackling techniques and UCLA's gratefully accepting being let back into what became a five-hour game to ultimately claim an astounding 67-63 victory.

And don't think it was a shootout. The Bruins trailed by 32 points midway through the third quarter with many fans wondering if it was time for Mike Leach to start giving the reserves a bitta game experience.

Wrong.

 

Full marks to previously winless UCLA, though. Dudes kept playing.

Their roster's so young, they probably didn't know any better. For their sake, Chip Kelly hopes they never do.

Witness the wacky magic of Pac-12 After Dark, possibly the only place in our known universe where an epic passing perfomance can be eclipsed by a collapse of biblical proportions:

 

Ironically, Leach has since received criticism for opting to go coach-normal when he punted on 4th-&-4 on the Bruin 43 late in the game when UCLA was gaining momentum.

Had it failed, he woulda given them a short field. So he opted for a deep punt and figured somewhere in the next 94 yards, DC Tracy Claeys' crew would get a stop.

 

Clearly, in this case, that's a rhetorical question.

After assuming Leach had snuffed it out by leading Wazzu to three straight double-digit campaigns, it seems that their unfortunate tradition of Coug-ing It is still in the program's DNA.

Game stats didn't speak well of either defense but volumes in favor of both offensive lines:

• In addition to his nine TDs, Gordon finished with 570 passing yards after going 41-61 but yielding two INTs.
• Dorian Thompson-Robinson accounted for seven touchdowns -- five through the air, two on the ground -- going 25-38 for 507 passing yards, adding 57 rushing and serving up one INT.

 

In the grand scheme of things -- or whatever passes for that in the Pac-12 -- this result further muddles the title picture, which seems to happen like this every year.

Previously undefeated teams were dropping like flies.

 

Actually, that'd be Oregon State's outlook for a winning season.

Anyway, teams enduring their inevitable first loss this weekend:

• Utah got dumped by Trojan depth, as it were, and
• Arizona State fell to Colorado and first-year coach Mel Tucker.

Only the allegedly communist CalBears are undefeated, which probably won't last long, either. Still ...

 

 

That's why they play the schedule and we play for beer money.

Each weekend, the Pac-12 seems to specialize in surveying what wacky stuff took place everywhere else in the country and then goes After Dark to one-up all of it.

Thanks to UCLA and Wazzu, they've succeeded wildly yet again.