Underachieving teams that lose to Wisconsin wind up in minor bowls, the ones that are played just after the Army-Navy game the day after finals week in an empty NFL stadium.
Saturday evening, 5 p.m. PT on ABC, 8-4 Washington meets 9-4 Boise State in the L.A. Bowl, the one a team goes to after losing two games to November and the coach is being rumored for every other job that opens up in the carousel.
The Ducks have bad history with both teams. In 2008 they lost 37-32 to the Broncos at Autzen Stadium after the visitors knocked Jeremiah Masoli out of the game with a helmet-to-helmet hit. The next year the Ducks slept-walked through four quarters before LeGarrette Blount knocked Byron Hout with a quick right hand at midfield after the game.
In 2017, the year Willie Taggart high-tailed it out of Eugene for his dream job, another dream job seeker Mario Cristobal took over as head coach for the Las Vegas Bowl. The Ducks played hung over, like they'd left their game at a Vegas strip crap table or a strip club, the Broncos cashing in with their third victory in a row in the series, sending the Webfoots home 38-28 losers and 0-3 in the series. Playing in his first bowl game Justin Herbert threw a Pick Six.
Oregon didn't get their first win head-to-head against BSU until 2024, pulling it out on big kick returns by Noah Whittington and Tez Johnson then a field goal drive at the end of the game.
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The series with Washington is even more twisted and sordid. No amount of Husky humiliation will erase "The Point," Jake Browning's exclamation mark on a 70-21 win in Justin Herbert's first start as a freshman, or the three straight losses Kalen DeBoer dealt Dan Lanning in his first two seasons as Oregon coach, all by a field goal.
Oregon has won the last two though, physical dominations by convincing scores as the window program in Seattle suffers through two years of Dedd Fisch mediocrity.
The Dawgs are a 10-point favorite tonight in SoFi Stadium. BSU earned their spot with a 38-21 win over UNLV for their third straight Mountain West Championship. The Huskies dropped to this game early in the bowl calendar after falling 26-14 to the Ducks in Husky Stadium, Demond Williams sacked four times and held to 129 yards passing. While an 8-4 season stands as an improvement over last year's 7-5, it's far short of the playoff talk that started in September.