Adam Jude
The Seattle Times
Washington junior center Nick Harris was the first to arrive in the west end zone, joined quickly there by a half dozen other teammates. They helped Jake Browning to his feet, then helped the quarterback celebrate his 9-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the first half.
There was, indeed, much to celebrate for the No. 11 Huskies on Saturday night after a thorough 35-7 dismantling of No. 20 Brigham Young before 70,155 at Husky Stadium.
Browning completed 23 of 25 passes for 277 yards en route to becoming Washington’s all-time leading passer, Salvon Ahmed scored his first two touchdowns of the year and the Huskies (4-1 overall) had the kind of balanced offensive breakthrough they’ve been waiting for.
“I felt we were right on the cusp of really getting after somebody,” Browning said.
Just as impressive was the Huskies’ defense, which was stellar once again — holding BYU to 34 yards rushing, seven first downs and coming an agonizing 41 seconds away from its first shutout of a ranked opponent in three decades.
“On both sides of the ball we really executed the plan to the ‘T,’” UW coach Chris Petersen said.
It was, Petersen agreed, the most complete performance of the season. It came as a difficult September closed for a Washington team that will likely jump back into the top 10 on Sunday morning as it prepares for back-to-back conference road trips, starting with a game in the Rose Bowl next Saturday (announced as a 4:30 p.m. kickoff) against a winless UCLA team.
The following week, the Huskies travel to Eugene for a highly anticipated showdown with rival Oregon that could wind up deciding the Pac-12 North champion.
The Huskies’ offensive breakthrough Saturday night started with the line, which took several weeks to jell after the loss of preseason All-American Trey Adams to a back injury. The line was good a week ago in a 27-20 victory over Arizona State. It was even better against a BYU team that two weeks ago went to Wisconsin and knocked off the No. 6 Badgers, 24-21.
“This definitely was a good step in the right direction for us,” Harris said. “Everybody in the beginning of the season expects things to be so perfect because of all the hype. But it takes time for stuff to get rolling, and that’s where I get frustrated when everybody says, ‘Oh, we’re not playing good.’ It’s not easy. We’re starting to jell.”
Ahmed (86 yards on 10 carries) and Myles Gaskin (81 yards on 14 carries) both had efficient games as the Huskies rushed for 187 yards in all, averaging 5.1 yards per carry. Browning was sacked only once.
Browning’s 92-percent completion rate Saturday is a record for a Washington QB with at least 20 pass attempts in a game. He was just short of the Pac-12 record, held by one Rick Neuheisel (25 for 27) against UW in 1983.
“When the offensive line blocks like they do, and he can sit back there and really look at things he’s a hard guy to stop,” Petersen said.
Browning broke Cody Pickett’s school passing record in the second quarter on a 9-yard pass to senior tight end Drew Sample.
Senior linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven, the reigning national defensive player of the week, forced and recovered a fumble in the second quarter, setting up Browning’s 9-yard touchdown run in the final seconds of the first half. That gave the Huskies a 21-0 halftime lead.
Browning later added a 15-yard touchdown pass to Sample. That was the 100th touchdown Browning was responsible for in his career, becoming just the sixth player in Pac-12 history to do that.
“I’m really fired up for him,” offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan said. “He’s played a lot of football, handled a lot of criticism. That guy’s battled through more than a lot of people and it just goes to show you how proud we are of him. … Lot of respect for that kid, man. He’s been through a lot here. Just be careful what you wish for when he’s not here.”
The UW defense appeared to have a shutout secured until Chico McClatcher fumbled a punt with about four minutes remaining. That gave the Cougars possession at the UW 21-yard line.
BYU then scored its first points of the game with 41 seconds left on a Lopini Katoa 1-yard touchdown run.
The Huskies had been trying for their first shutout of a ranked opponent since Sept. 22, 1990 — Todd Marinovich’s famous “All I saw was purple” game, when UW beat No. 5 USC, 31-0.
Washington’s Jake Browning dives into the end zone on a 9-yard touchdown run, giving Washington a 21-0 lead against Brigham Young at the half on Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018, at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Washington won, 35-7. (Dean Rutz/Seattle Times/TNS)
