Cougars have the momentum to pull off another upset of UCLA

The Cougars are as hot as any team in the Pac 12, having one four of their last five games. (AP)

I love the Pac-12 Network. The other night it replayed the 1988 UCLA-Washington State game from the Rose Bowl, the one when we beat the No. 1-ranked Bruins 34-30 after trailing 27-6.

For reasons I can’t recall, I watched that game from a bar in the U. District and watched a replay the next morning on my Sony Betamax. Yes, I had a Sony Betamax when everyone else seemed to have the bigger cartridge video players.

School records, bowl futures on line for WSU, No. 18 UCLA

A buddy of mine, Dave Patterson, who I saw at Martin Stadium last weekend, made a cassette tape for me, splicing Bob Robertson’s calls of every play in the final minute of that game into Ted Nugent’s song “Stormtroopin’.” It’s hard to explain, but it brings back nice memories from one of the greatest games in Cougar football history, particularly when Robertson counted down the final seconds.

It was fun to watch us stop Troy Aikman again on four plays inside our 10-yard line, and the only down side was seeing offensive lineman Chris Dyko, who died last year in a bicycle accident in the Florida Keys. Like everyone who knew him, I miss that mountain of a Coug and know how much he’d be enjoying this 6-3 season.

Saturday night we play the Bruins again in the Rose Bowl, and they’re not the top team in the country, but they’re in the top 20.

They are 7-2 and have the No. 1 pass defense in the Pac-12. The Bruins are also solid on the other side of the ball with freshman quarterback Josh Rosen and running back Paul Perkins, who rushes for 107 yards a game. And the Bruins have a great kicker in Ka’imi Fairbairn, who will set a UCLA scoring record with two more points. Fairbairn has accuracy and range, booting a 60-yard field goal against Cal two weeks ago.

All right, enough about UCLA. Well, one more thing, the Bruins also have Jim Mora as their coach. I like Mora, but I continue to hold a grudge against him because he’s the only person who texted me and gave me grief after the Cougars lost the 2009 Apple Cup.

Being the arrogant Husky alum that they all are, Mora got a kick out of himself and probably doesn’t even remember busting my chops, but I do. And after Washington State beats his Bruins Saturday night, I won’t text him, but I will snicker silently to myself, knowing that karma and the Cougs teamed up to get him back.

I know UCLA has a good team, and I’m impressed with Rosen. I also know the Bruins are at home, but this is also a team that lost to Arizona State at the Rose Bowl, and it wasn’t close. The Sun Devils won 38-23. That’s the same ASU team the Cougs beat last week at Martin Stadium 38-24. UCLA also needed a late touchdown to beat Colorado at the Rose Bowl. The Buffaloes led UCLA 31-28 in the fourth quarter before losing 35-31. Colorado, as you know, is the 11th-best team in the Pac-12.

Oh, and by the way, I thought we had the worst punter in the conference but we don’t. UCLA’s Matt Mengel is slightly worse than our kid, by two-tenths of a yard with a 39.6-yard net average.

The Cougars have won four of their last five and have covered five spreads in a row, losing only to Stanford on a missed field goal on Halloween night. I don’t understand why WSU is a 10.5-point underdog, but those guys in Vegas, as I’ve mentioned a million times, know what they’re doing.

Nonetheless, the Cougs are as hot as any team in the conference, and UCLA looks vulnerable to me.

Line: UCLA by 10.5
Prediction: Washington State 38, UCLA 27
Season record against the spread: 5-3-1