BOULDER, Colo. — Sorry we missed you, Ralphie.
Good to see you again, Myles.
Led by their standout junior running back, Myles Gaskin, the No. 7 Washington Huskies used a rejuvenated ground game and another strong second half to roll past Colorado, 37-10, in their Pac-12 opener on a soggy Saturday night at Folsom Field.
“We love the rainy games on grass fields — getting muddy, having fun,” senior center Coleman Shelton said. “We really enjoyed this game. We were just jelling and clicking.
“Myles was doing his thing. All we have to do is give that guy a little space, and he’s going to make us look good.”
Gaskin rushed for a career-high 202 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries, topping 100 yards for the first time since his 159-yard performance against the Buffaloes in the 2016 Pac-12 championship game.
There were questions about the rushing attack when the Huskies (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) came into Saturday’s game averaging 129.7 yards rushing per game, which ranked ninth in the conference. Question no more.
Gaskin chewed up ground on the same field where Ralphie, Colorado’s 1,200-pound live buffalo, makes its usual pregame sprint to lead the team onto the field. It’s one of the cooler traditions in college football, except Ralphie was sidelined on this night because of the inclement weather.
The steady rain made both teams’ passing game a bit messy at times, and in the second half the Huskies rode their offensive line. UW finished with a season-high 254 yards rushing on 39 carries.
“They put it on full display today, and I couldn’t be more proud of those guys,” Gaskin said. “All the love goes out to those guys.”
The Huskies outscored Colorado 37-3 after the first quarter.
UW’s Jordan Miller had two first-half interceptions against Colorado sophomore quarterback Steven Montez, and Myles Bryant had a 35-yard interception return for a touchdown to push UW’s lead to 24-10 entering the fourth quarter.
The Huskies sacked Montez four times and held the Buffaloes to 112 total yards in the second half. It was an eerily similar performance to UW’s victory in the Pac-12 championship game, when the Huskies turned a close game into a second-half rout.
“You could definitely feel the momentum shift,” Shelton said. “We kept pounding the rock, which was nice.”
On the game’s first possession, Colorado (3-1, 0-1) marched down the field, going 75 yards on 11 plays and getting a 1-yard touchdown run from Phillip Lindsay to take a 7-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, UW’s special teams once again sparked a rally. Vita Vea, UW’s 340-pound defensive tackle, powered through Colorado’s punt-protection shield and blocked a punt with his right hand. UW recovered at the Colorado 12-yard line, and four plays later Gaskin scored on a 1-yard TD run to tie the score at 7-7 with 9:04 left in the second quarter.
“Really proud of these guys just (with) how this game went,” UW coach Chris Petersen said. “We thought it would go like this, that we’d come into an energized environment, that (Colorado) would come out fast. We didn’t want them to come out and score on us, but nobody flinched for one second. It was almost business as usual.”
Tristan Vizcaino, after missing an earlier 32-yard try, connected from 25 yards later in the second quarter to give UW a 10-7 halftime lead.
Sophomore wide receiver Quinten Pounds made a spectacular catch, leaping over two defenders, to haul in a 43-yard touchdown pass from Jake Browning to extend UW’s lead to 17-7 with 11:38 left in the third.
Colorado answered with a field goal before Bryant’s pick six. Walk-on defensive end Shane Bowman and senior middle linebacker Azeem Victor ended Colorado’s next drive with back-to-back sacks.
True-freshman running back Salvon Ahmed then scored on a 6-yard run early in the fourth quarter to push UW’s lead to 31-10. Gaskin, running left behind Trey Adams and Jesse Sosebee, added a 57-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter to make it 37-10.
Gaskin carried the load for a UW offense missing three regulars, including hulking backup running back Lavon Coleman (concussion). Wide receiver Andre Baccellia and tight end Drew Sample also remained in Seattle with injuries.
