College football is the greatest sport out there, and a close second is high school football. The emotion, the finality of wins and losses, and the heart.

In college football 98% of all players won’t make it in the NFL; they’re playing for the love of the game, the education, and to better themselves for life, in general.

After the loss to Cal Saturday night, there was a lot of discussion about time-management at the end and how Coach Petersen should have let Cal score earlier so the Huskies could get the ball back and drive down and get the win in the final seconds.

I’ve been following college football all my life. If you were from Ohio you were raised on Woody Hayes and his old-school coaching style. If you were from Michigan you knew all about Bo Schembechler. If you lived in Nebraska it was Tom Osborne. If USC it was John McKay.

But I lived in the state of Washington — and it was the Don James era during my teens and on up into my thirties. So James had the biggest impact on me as a person who has followed Husky Football throughout her entire life. I was very young during the Owens era.

Back to 2019…

There is always second-guessing in sports, and that last drive of Cal during the game Saturday night was the hot topic on the Twittersphere and also in most post-game write-ups. 

Coach Petersen was asked straight up if he considered letting Cal go ahead and score quickly in order for the Huskies to get the ball back. 

“We always have that conversation. They were running the ball and watching them kick field goals, he had a lower trajectory. It shouldn’t have gotten to that situation, when your back is up against the wall. That was a thought for a second”, Petersen said in the post-game.

If you’re a good head coach, you look at all scenarios — but as an even better coach, you never want to give up a touchdown. 

It’s akin to putting your fingernails on a chalkboard or walking over a sticker bush with bare feet. That’s just not hardwired into any good coach’s DNA. 

The thought crossed Petersen’s mind for one second, just one. But Petersen is a good coach — and it’s not in him to allow his team to give up a touchdown.

1988 — 1989…

Washington played USC in both seasons, both at Los Angeles, and both were close losses. Both games saw the Dawgfather, himself, questioned on time-management. 

Let’s set the table here…

Fourth quarter, USC has the ball with a little over nine or 10 minutes left to play. USC used to run the student-body-right or student-body-left.

For those in the younger generation, this just means everyone pull right or pull left and run that play over and over again. USC went on a long-possession drive for around 80 yards to score. 

I remember this quote because it was a classic Don James-ism. 

When the press asked James why his defense looked so tired and there were two timeouts left, did he ever consider calling timeout to have time on the clock in the event USC scored? (which they did)

James looked at the press and, in his usual style of disdain and irritation said, “If they wanted to get off the field all they had to do was get a stop.”

His foundation was built on physical, tough, grind it out football. Before all the analytics and safe spaces and participation points and over-sensitivity, there was tough-nosed, no holds barred football. 

Coach James loved his players, but he also used tough-love in his coaching style — and that style eventually brought an undefeated season and a national title.

Back to the Future…

Jimmy Lake was also asked about the idea of letting Cal score, and he said “Not from my end”. If he was going to channel Madea, he would have said “Hell to the no”. 

As a defensive player you’re taught every single day from pee-wee football all the way up to the NFL: Don’t let the other team score.

There’s just too much chatter from Monday Morning Quarterbacks, Twitter trolls, sportswriters, etc. trying to second-guess what coaches are doing in any given second of a football game.

But could you imagine their outrage if Coach Petersen had given the call to let Cal score a touchdown and Washington wasn’t able to answer and win? 

There would be so much negative press it would be on every message board, Twitter feed, editorial column. How Coach Petersen told his team to “lay down”.

Every school that recruits against Washington would have used this, “Why go to Washington? They tell you to let a team score.”

Nope — Jimmy Lake is right. That’s never going to happen. If that gamble doesn’t pay off you might as well just go lay down in the middle of I-5 during rush hour. 

In Conclusion…

Husky fans should be glad to know that the Husky defensive coaches and the head coach still choose to battle it out when the game is on the line. You never give up.

And that’s what the Huskies would have done if they had laid down and let Cal score a touchdown. 

You always want to win, but it’s more than just the numbers on the scoreboard as time runs out, in the words of Rocky Balboa, “It ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.”

Washington took that hit, but they weren’t going to give anything away.