At 4:50 p.m. on Saturday, exactly one hour after Justin Herbert took a knee to seal another Oregon victory, a rainbow arced through the spitting Seattle drizzle and landed inside Husky Stadium.
Its arrival was ironic, of course, considering the circumstances. Washington had just suffered its third loss of the season, and its second at home in conference play. It had let a rivalry win over Oregon slip through its fingers — or paws? — for the second consecutive year. College Football Playoff hopes were mere memories, and any chance of a repeat Pac-12 championship had been swept away in the storm.