Byline: JIM MOORE P-I COLUMNIST
IT'S NOT TRUE. For some Washington State fans, a perfect football weekend features a Cougar win and a Husky loss, but I'm much bigger than that.
I would never revel in big brother's shocking loss to Cal or write about Kyle Boller and the inability of the defenseless Dawgs to stop him.
I would never dream of mentioning the disastrous possibilities for a 3-2 team that has only one gimme left.
Truth-seeking journalists - like all of the Husky beat writers - go on fact-finding missions to give insight to their readers. The Go 2 Guy went to yesterday's news conference at the Don James Center for free sub sandwiches washed down with Fritos, Grandma's cookies and a Diet Mountain Dew.
While sitting in a chair on the vast purple carpet, I listened as UW coach Rick Neuheisel regurgitated Golden Bear leftovers and spoke about the future menu, which features pan-seared Arizona Wildcat on Saturday.
(This, I realize, is taking the whole food metaphor thing too far. It is what is known in the biz as a 'reach.' But I'm hungry.)
While Neuheisel waxed on with out-of-town reporters on the speakerphone, I looked at the Huskies' schedule and noticed that four of their last six games are on the road. (This is my version of insight.)
They figure to be underdogs in three of those games - at USC on Oct. 19, at Oregon on Nov. 16 and at Washington State on Nov. 23.
With the emergence of Sun Devils quarterback Andrew Walter, the Huskies could be vulnerable at Arizona State on Oct. 26.
Home games against UCLA on Nov. 2 and Oregon State on Nov. 9 also will be difficult given Boller's five-touchdown afternoon and the potential of two more passing assaults from the Bruins' Cory Paus and the Beavers' Derek Anderson.
Not to suggest gloom and doom or anything like that, but there is a possibility that the following line could be written next month: 'A representative from the Las Vegas Bowl will be in attendance at tomorrow's game.'
(The rest of this column is dedicated to fairness and objectivity and Neuheisel's belief that it won't turn out that way, lest he join Cameron Dollar in Barbara Hedges' Dawghouse.)
Neuheisel is a convincing speaker. He reminds me of my therapist, only my hour with Neuheisel was $110 cheaper.
He wants the Huskies to run the ball, understanding that even with the brilliance of Cody Pickett, a one-dimensional air attack won't deliver consistent results.
He recognizes the Huskies are in a 'crisis mode' and worries about overreacting or underreacting, trying to find the right balance. (That was a little above my head, but I nodded like I knew what he was talking about.)
He took responsibility, saying he was out-coached. He feels an 'urgency' to correct the wrongs.
Neuheisel also supplied some juicy quotes that make for good copy, claiming that Reggie Williams was 'harassed' to the point that it 'resembled a mugging.'
And he complained about his Huskies being too nice, encouraging them to get nastier on defense.
'My hope is to be more aggressive,' Neuheisel said. 'We're playing too clean, adhering to the rules too much.'
In other words, I guess he wants his squad to be more like he is as a recruiter.
I took exception with Neuheisel on only a few points. When he called Arizona 'a quality Pac-10 opponent' and said 'we've got our hands full,' I figured he was full of something else because the Wildcats are a lower-tier team.
Then he lost me with his comments about Williams, saying no one ever gets to the finish line, that you have to continually work and strive to improve.
'Life is never about relaxing,' Neuheisel said. 'You ask people who are retired and most of 'em will say it sucks.'
(Hey, coach, to the Go 2 Guy, life is always about relaxing, and retirement will be great.)
(Then again, maybe I've spent too much of my life cutting class and corners and would be at Sports Illustrated if I had really applied myself.)
Neuheisel held his index finger and thumb an inch apart when he said 'we're this close to being 5-0. But the fact is we're 3-2.'
And, based on developments thus far, headed toward 7-5 and a trip to the Strip.
P-I columnist Jim Moore can be reached at 206-448-8013 or jimmoore@seattlepi.com. His columns appear Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
