Washington State Department of Natural Resources roasts Michigan for wolverine mascot
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources woke up and chose to stir the pot on social media ahead of in-state school Washington’s national title game matchup vs. Michigan.
Given that the “Huskies” nickname for Washington actually makes sense since there are plenty of the light-furred dog in the Pacific Northwest. However, the region is also home to a little mammal called the “wolverine,” which just so happens to be Michigan’s school mascot.
But what the Washington Department of Natural Resources wonders… is why Michigan goes about calling themselves the Wolverines when the animal isn’t even native to Michigan nor does it even exist in that particular pocket of the United States.
On the day of the national title game, their Twitter account sent out this post:
“Good morning from the only state playing football today that actually has wolverines.”
What a burn on Michigan.
Michael Penix on Washington’s underdog mentality
You could argue no worthy national title participant has ever faced as much doubt and dismissal as this UW squad. This group went 11-2 last year, beat Texas in the Alamo Bowl, finished No. 6 in the final rankings, and then returned everyone.
Yet, when they faced Oregon, they were underdogs. Well, they won. Then, the Huskies finished undefeated in the best year of the Pac-12 in recent memory only to go into the Pac-12 title game rematch vs. the Ducks as underdogs yet again. What happened? Oh yeah, another victory.
Once they got in the College Football Playoff, surely an undefeated No. 2 seed Huskies would be favored in their matchup, right? Wrong again. Instead, Texas was a decent favorite for no reason other than name. The Huskies went undefeated, produced a more impressive resume, had the better quarterback and clearly the best defensive player on the field as well. They were also better the year before, even beating Texas in that bowl game. Plus, this isn’t Washington’s first time in the playoff, but it was for Texas.
Penix and crew made fools out of experts and analysts once again in that win. So when he was asked about being the underdog one more time in the title game vs. Michigan, the Washington quarterback explained that, clearly, such storylines have never gotten to his squad.
“I mean, we see that stuff that’s out there, but we don’t really let it bother us,” said Penix at his press conference. “We have an us versus us mentality. That’s been kind of like our motto all year, us versus us, because we know that people might not believe in us.”
Inside the building, though, the Huskies know exactly what their star player and entire team are capable of.
“But for us and within our doors, within our team, we’ve got to have that understanding that nobody can shape our future. Only we can. That’s how we go about each and every day. We know that it’s not always going to be perfect. People are not always going to be on our side. But as long as we’ve got each other, that’s all that matters.”