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Commentary: The Pac-12 needed a big victory and Washington State came to the rescue

By Jon Wilner Bay Area News Group

Nine months ago, Washington State planted its flag in the Husky Stadium turf after a resounding victory in the Apple Cup.

Saturday, the Cougars carried the flag for the Pac-12 in enemy territory, stunning No. 19 Wisconsin 17-14 to give the conference a desperately-needed victory over a Power Five opponent from outside the Pac-12.

Because it had been a long, long time – 51 weeks, in fact.

Since Stanford’s win at Vanderbilt on the evening of Sept. 18, 2021, the conference had dropped eight consecutive games against Power Five opposition.

The losing streak included two regular-season losses to Notre Dame (by Stanford and USC), three losses in bowl games (Oregon, Utah and Arizona State), followed by three losses last week (Colorado, Utah and Oregon).

The Cougars mustered the performance after what was a substandard effort in their opener against Idaho.

Or maybe that seven-point win was intended to lull the Badgers into a false sense of security.

It sure fooled us. The Hotline was not optimistic about WSU’s prospects for staying in range of Wisconsin for 60 minutes.

And had you told us in advance that the Cougars would commit three turnovers, that they would rush for 53 yards and allow 174, that they would convert 2-of-11 third downs and that Wisconsin would possess the ball for 38 minutes, well, we’d have been confident in the dire outlook.

But WSU’s defense shut out the Badgers in the second half and created three turnovers in a momentous effort.

It was WSU’s first non-conference road win over a ranked team since 2003, and it moved the Cougars onto the postseason fast track.

With a victory next week over Colorado State, they will be halfway to bowl eligibility with nine league games to play.

And we cannot ignore the backdrop.

For two-and-a-half months, WSU and Oregon State have been afterthoughts in discussions about the Pac-12’s existential crisis.

If four schools left for the Big Ten and four left for the Big 12, the Cougars and Beavers would likely be left behind, unwanted and forced to join the Mountain West.

And here they are, both undefeated and in possession of several of the Pac-12’s most impressive victories, including the conference’ first Power Five takedown in almost a year.