Top > Sport > 2005 > September > 2005-09-26

UW triumphs over Idaho

No, you don",t win any prizes for beating the Idaho Vandals. Not if you",re the big, bad Washington Huskies. The neighbors from the east didn",t even deserve a spot in Rick Neuheisel",s mythical Northwest championship a few years ago. Playing Idaho is normally a no-win situation for Washington. This time, however, it was as must-win as an Old West gun battle at 20 paces. Lose this one and the Huskies would have been left for the coyotes to clean up.

There is no Washington-Idaho rivalry, outside of potato farming circles. Husky fans hate the Oregon Ducks, but the Vandals? How can you dislike an opponent that normally puts up as much fight as a soft-serve ice cream cone? Needing a win in the worst way, the Huskies got one in the very best way -- with a dominating defense that recorded seven sacks and held Idaho to minus-4 yards rushing.

So it was that relief washed over the faces of UW players after a 34-6 victory Saturday at Husky Stadium, a victory that felt like it had been a very long time coming because, well, it had been 49 weeks since Washington",s last football success. Never mind that the visiting Vandals hadn",t beaten Washington since 1905. Or that Idaho itself is hardly a rising college football power, given its 0-3 start and just nine wins in 50 games since 2001.