A Grip on Sports: No matter how much things change, there are always similarities between the past and present

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Winter is coming. Fast. And hard. But before then, we have to finish with the fall. No, not raking wayward leaves. College football. The end of an era. And, for the second time in the past 26 years – yeah, random we know, but crucial – Michigan has secured a national title at the expense of a school from the state of Washington.

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• College football has changed immensely since a fateful Rose Bowl a quarter century (plus one year) ago. The most-impactful change for this part of the country, of course, is the demise of the conference that sent Washington State to that Rose Bowl and Washington to last night’s title contest in Houston.

But, in other ways, nothing has changed at all.

Especially the moaning and groaning by the losing team’s fans after Michigan’s championship-clinching win. Only the delivery system is different.

Back in the 20th century, Washington State supporters decried a disappearing last second or two at the end via letters to the editor, in office meetings and over the back fence. Or whenever they could commandeer an ESPN microphone for the next decade. It hit hard here but was mainly ignored elsewhere.

Remember? The Cougars, trailing 21-16, rode Ryan Leaf’s arm down the Rose Bowl turf in the final minute, only to see the last seconds expire after Leaf’s final spiked pass hit the ground. It was a travesty, one that cost eighth-ranked WSU one last shot at glory – and ensured Michigan its title.

You also remember how Washington fans reacted? We do. “Quit whining” was the operative term over the next week, month, heck, years. Loudly. Often.

Monday night in Houston, as the Wolverines were struggling to hold off UW in the CFP championship game, a couple inconsistent holding calls determined the 34-13 outcome. At least that’s how Washington fans saw it. And voiced it. In real time. On Twitter and elsewhere. Loudly. Often. And it was funny to see how their rival fans from across our state reacted. Yep, you guessed it. The same way UW’s did 26 years ago.

Officiating is part of the game, right? Which doesn’t mean last night’s contest didn’t turn on the calls, just as playing 1998’s last seconds might have overturned that outcome.

Putting the ancient history aside, Monday’s fourth-quarter holding call on Washington’s Roger Rosengarten, with Michigan leading 20-13, seemed a bit odd, considering how the line play had been adjudicated up to that point.

Marcus Woods’ ACC officiating crew had been lenient in enforcing the offensive holding rules, which is their right – if not actually just. But when Rosengarten shoved the Michigan defender to the ground, earning a penalty, Washington’s key 32-yard pass play was nullified. Instead of being at the UM 35, the Huskies were at their 23.

Two plays later Washington punted.

One play later Woods ignored a more blatant hold – UW’s Zion Tupuola-Fetui had J.J. McCarthy dead to rights, except Trente Jones held him back, literally – allowing the Wolverines to complete a back-breaking 41-yard pass. Four plays later UM was in the end zone and the Huskies’ undefeated season was toast.

Funny, though, just as WSU’s Rose Bowl defeat could have been avoided if the Cougars had done more earlier, the same could be said about the Huskies. Mainly, they could have kept Michael Penix Jr. healthy.

Washington trailed by a touchdown at halftime, but Penix was finally on fire. He had connected on 8-of-13 second-quarter passes and, with the Huskies scoring their first touchdown in the final minute before intermission, seemed to have sparked UW and set the stage for a fateful second half comeback.

But on the first play out of the locker room, UM’s Mason Graham bull-rushed Parker Brailsford into Penix’s right ankle, causing not only a momentum-changing interception (and an ensuing field goal) but also ruined the Huskies’ night. After that play – Penix limped to the sideline, spent time with trainers and then returned – the Heisman Trophy runner-up was never the same, missing key throws throughout the second half. Nor was UW’s offense, despite receivers still finding open space in the Michigan secondary.

Thankfully, though, we still had a sideshow to watch. Because what is college football without the moans and groans of incensed fans – and the impassioned reactions of their rivals?

Yep, you guessed it. The NFL.

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WSU: We have a lot of stories about Washington’s 34-13 loss to pass along. Many of them, written by the Seattle Times’ staff, appeared in the S-R this morning. Game stories and notebooks. … And then there are the thoughts of Northwest-based columnists, such as John Canzano and Christian Caple. … Jon Wilner weighs in with his thoughts as well in the Mercury News. … And we pass along a selection of stories and columns from around the region and the nation, including the AP wire story. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Wilner also has his final top-25 ballot, which doesn’t match the overall AP one much. … Who will win next year? The early odds are out. … Canzano also had a mailbag yesterday. … Oregon State is rebuilding its roster from the portal. … Oregon is picking up key pieces from the same spot. … Utah has some key pieces returning. … In basketball news, Wilner has his men’s power rankings. … Oregon State is at the bottom of those. … Colorado is lower than it would like, partly due to turnovers. … California gets to say it won its last Pac-12 conference men’s game in Pauley Pavilion. … Two Arizona players reached milestones recently and one won a Pac-12 award. … We can pass along a women’s notebook from the Mercury News. … Colorado is still fifth in the poll. … Oregon State is unranked.

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs won both its West Coast Conference games last week. Those victories lifted them up a spot, to 23, in the Associated Press poll. Jim Meehan covers that development and looks at all the rating systems in this story. … The women moved up a couple spots, to 16, in the latest AP poll. … Jim and Richard Fox are back with their Zag Insiders Podcast. You can listen here.

EWU: Aaliyah Alexander may be a little overlooked by Eastern’s foes, but as Dan Thompson tells us, the guard is instrumental in the Eagles’ success. … Yes, it’s basketball season, but Dan also has a story on the fall’s football schedule. It includes 12 games and only one against an FBS foe (at Nevada). … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, though Montana came up short in the title game, it was still a football season to celebrate. … Idaho State will be playing in a renamed facility next season. … Basketball’s challenge series with the Summit League was good for the conference.

Preps: It was a busier-than-usual Monday night in GSL basketball, what with rivalry games on tap this week. Dave Nichols has this roundup.

Seahawks: One has to wonder if Bobby Wagner will be back next season. We do know for sure, however, that Pete Carroll wants to come back.

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• We watched the 1998 Rose Bowl in the same place we watched last night’s game. The TV was quite a bit smaller then, and not nearly as clear, but the parallels were still pretty easy to see. That darn Michigan fight song. The high stakes. The letdown. The loser joining the winner’s conference after. Wait, that’s not the same. Ah, well. Change is always inevitable, right? Until later …