I was into the Huskies bigly when I was a kid, but the sanctions, some shady players, and getting older and enrolling at a different college and therefore becoming an official jack doog turned me into more of a fan of college football in general than Washington specifically. I'd watch any game that was good.
That was when the Trojans had sucked for some time, so I had no animosity toward them. Then this Pete Carroll guy took over, and something changed. That was the hardest hitting, hardest working, overachieving team I'd seen in a long time relative to the season prior. It was weird and fun watching USC as an underdog, slugging it out with higher ranked opponents. He had those boys playing HARD as fuck. Every game was playoff hockey levels of physical. Became must-watch TV. They lost six games that season by a combined 29 points (highest losing margin was a mere 11), so it was clear even that first year that the rape train was leaving the station, and the conference was on notice: USC had a coach.
Anyway, not my favorite season relative to 1990 or whatever, but I had a lot of fun as just a football fan in general watching Pete Carroll get things rolling down there before getting his guysm in and really putting the poundin' to the roundin'.
