A Win is a Win is a Win

I’ll take it, and so will you. So it was ugly at times, so what? A conference win is a conference win. Brink Haters can continue to rail on the inability to get the ball into the endzone, and continue to rip on Brink’s lack of arm-strength or continually rolling out for no apparent reason…but the kid did just go 32-for-47 for 449 and a TD.

Oh yeah, just one of six Pac-10 QB’s EVER to go over 10,000 career yards (that, in and of itself, is AMAZING to me). And sadly, Jason Gesser has been passed yet again, this time in TD passes as Brink now has 71. Overall they rolled up over 500 yards of offense and 33 points, including a pick-6 by Abdullah, but the offense continues to sputter when it comes to scoring TD’s. Just think, if Romeen doesn’t nail those field goals (and earlier in the year, he wouldn’t have!) and if Abdullah doesn’t run that pick back, this one could have been one scary game.

Some other things to like today:

• Chris Ivory was strong with 15 carries, 104 yards. We’re now 8-3 since the beginning of 2006 in which we’ve gone over 100 net yards. Alex Brink MUST have a running game to be successful! It was close though, as we only had a net of 112, but hey, it counts. Anyway, I really like what we’ve seen of Ivory….just hang on the damn ball kid! Two fumbles, that’s something he better work on for next week as Oregon State’s D will rip the hell out of that ball.
• The receivers were great. Gibson and Collins both over 100 yards, and Bump was nearly there. Nice to see Bump become the #1 all-time WR too. Kind of an under-appreciated guy if you ask me, probably because he never gets in the end-zone and doesn’t have the flashy tools. But when he’s been healthy, he’s never been afraid to go over the middle and take a wallop. We’ll miss his toughness next year.
• The defense was pretty good, but I admit we looked a little flat early on. But once we settled in we looked good. Nice to see Giles grab an INT that hit him between the 3 and the 2, and the pick-6 was wonderful. Overall our DB’s played well, and they were physical again. Xavier Hicks with ANOTHER whopper, this time drilling Evan Moore and knocking him out of the game! Yet Doba continues to start Jackson at safety!?!? DUMB.
• I guess we officially have a kicker now? What, exactly, has gotten into Romeen? Do they need to start checking his milk for HGH? 4-for-4 tonight, and I believe they said on the broadcast that he’s now hit 8 of his last 10 or something like that? Impressive. We would have been in a much tighter game tonight if he wasn’t hitting FG’s, so let’s hope he keeps it going these last two games.
• Boy the FSN crew was bad. Actually I liked listening to Todd Husak, the former Cardinal QB. He was pretty good and broke things down fairly well. But Brian Davis, yeesh. And the camera crew, wow, that’s not the B-team, that’s the A/V department from Pullman High School out there!
• Looks like “Pirate Girl” has updated the wardrobe. Now she’s a construction worker. Whatever will she be next week? Say what you want, but she’s not afraid to show a little skin in 45-degree weather. Pirate Girl, we salute you.

So, I guess we could complain about the 0-for-3 on 4th downs, the 3 turnovers, how empty the yards feel when compared to the struggles to score points, etc. But at this stage of the season? It doesn’t matter how. It’s too late in the year to wring your hands over issues that have plagued the team all year long. Things are as they are and nothing will change. I’m not going to bitch about a 16-point win at home over a team we haven’t beaten in Pullman since 1997! So hoist a cold one and enjoy a victory. Here we are, now 4-6, and the bowl-bid heartbeat goes on another week.

One more thing – VERY glad to see Jake Locker walk back onto the field at the end of the game. When they first showed the hit it didn’t look that bad, but then the end-zone replay in slo-mo, when you see the helmet-to-helmet shot, it was an “oh my God!” moment. Who knows how bad the injury is in regards to him playing again this year, and he was wearing a neck brace so it’s not just a little bruise, but he may be done for the season. Should be interesting to see how UW handles him the rest of the year. But I’m very, very glad that he’s ok! He may be a Husky, but he’s a special, special talent and everything you hear is that he’s a class act in every sense of the word, so you hate to see someone like that get hurt.