Rooting for an old friend ...

They got jobbed.

UW Huskies 2
ASU Sun Devils 1
1OT - Husky Field - Seattle, WA
November 7, 2008

So I was rooting for ASU ... an old friend of mine is now the coach there. Basically, I have no real rooting interest for the Sun Devils, and I am a Coug that has no real love for the Dawgs so that was really convenient. Frankly, it was a pretty entertaining game. The box score indicates a greater statistical advantage to Washington than I would have expected from watching the flow of play. My daughter and I both enjoyed the game. Both teams are very good. The game deserved better than a weak call in the first minute of overtime.

But, here's the thing. In a very close and important game with NCAA Tournament implications the referee should not interject a rash decision into the contest to decide it. In this instance the referee did. A quick call in the first minute of overtime effectively decided the game and the ASU season. Without the benefit of replay it is tough to say for certain if it was a good call, but Washington looked surprised the call was made; and that tells me something about the quality of the call.

Then it turned out ASU lost on Sunday in overtime, to my Cougs. The Cougar win was the one that put my Cougs (I was an assistant coach on the 1994 NCAA Sweet 16 WSU Cougars women's soccer team) into the NCAA's today against Texas in Portland. After two years of being jobbed by the selection committee, the Cougs are in.

Go Cougs!