"Haunted" is never a word you want to hear yourself saying 23 years after the event, but that's the one former Huskies football coach Rick Neuheisel chose Tuesday. He was reliving UW's road game vs. UCLA in 1999 with Chuck Powell and Bucky Jacobsen on 93.3 KJR-FM, acutely aware that he let a trip to the Rose Bowl slip away.
The contest took place at the Rose Bowl, where Washington has struggled mightily against the Bruins over the past two and a half decades regardless of records. And that year was consistent with results of late, as a 4-7 UCLA squad beat the Huskies 23-20 in overtime, preventing them from returning to Pasadena on Jan. 1.
"We'd have gone to a Rose Bowl that year if we don't find a way to lose that game," Neuheisel said.
