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With a 35-7 win against the # 20 BYU, the Huskies have insisted that they could still have a national presence in January.
The Huskies had been workers. The Huskies had been effective and sometimes opportunistic, dazzling intermittently, not to say sometimes frustrating and inconsistent.
But what they had not been, in this season that is still full of promise, dominates (and no, North Dakota does not count). In their first four games, they had provided little evidence of their ability to get to where they wanted to go.
That time ended Saturday night at Husky Stadium when it was dismantled at 35-7 from Brigham Young University. Against a very good team of Cougar, very physical and very delicate, the Huskies were in total control, beginner, offensive and defensive, a resounding pronouncement loud and clear.
HUSKIES 35, BYU 7
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"I thought we were ready and ready for an outstanding performance," quarterback Jake Browning said.
That's the game Washington needed, that his season had coveted. This is the game that hints that the Huskies could still have a national presence before everything is over.
"You want to have a game like this where, in the third quarter, you feel pretty good and you can start running guys," linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven said.
The road ahead is still steep and difficult, but this effort, against a BYU team ranked 20th and having won a victory against No-No. 6 Wisconsin, should revive the hype Husky.
After Auburn's defeat of the season, she slowed to a trickle. He justified a torrent, tainted only by a troubled pitfall in the match (two missed goals), and a late tackle from Chico McClatcher, which led to the only BYU score 41 seconds from the end. .
We could start anywhere, but let's start with Browning, who gave a performance that even his detractors should recognize at the limit: 23 passes out of 25 for 277 yards, a touchdown pass and another touchdown run.
"I'm really excited for him," said offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. "It's the guy."
"It's the Jake we see all the time," said coach Chris Petersen. "I think when the offensive line crashes like they do and he can sit back and really look at things, he's a tough guy to stop."
Or, as center Nick Harris said, "We are giving this guy time, he is going to throw the ball perfectly."
It's almost literal. If some Husky receivers had held a ball that was moving from one to the other in the end zone in the fourth quarter, Browning would have equaled the NCAA record for the percentage of success in a match. In fact, he set a Husky record for the completion percentage of a match with a minimum of 20 attempts.
That meant, of course, his protection was ironclad. It is amazing to see how much a QB has time to evaluate and dissect, especially one that has the sense of Browning. He was ready, decisive and even elusive in a 9-yard run.
It also meant that the game was being clicked (187 yards on the ground, with Myles Gaskin and Salvon Ahmed sharing the charge), which, according to Petersen, was the key to everything.
"We are about to attack more and more each week," Browning said.
As impressive as the offense, the defense could have been better. The trial and error cost them the go-ahead, but they completely thwarted a BYU attack with a racing game that thrives on diversions and what defensive coordinator Husky Jimmy Lake called "smoke and mirrors".
A team of BYU, known for its physics, has been surpassed by the Huskies. A misleading and delicate offense did not deceive or deceive them. When Burr-Kirven forced and recovered a fumble (a feat that becomes a routine for him) at the end of the first period to set up a Husky TD, "that changed the game," said Petersen.
In the fourth quarter, BYU had a 13 yard rushing net.
"They had to go further in their game book and eventually they had to throw the ball a lot more than they wanted, and that was the story of the game," said Burr-Kirven.
Lake added: "We have addressed this issue as an option offense, as if we were facing an offense of the Army, Navy and Georgia type. We really focused on everyone's work and we do not look at smoke and mirrors. You have this gap, play this gap. If you are supposed to be outside the receiver and set the edge, you set the edge.
"We had enough body to play the sweep one way and the dive on the other. As long as everyone was doing their job, we thought we would be in good shape. It takes a lot of discipline. I'm really proud of the guys doing their job.
Did Petersen see this breakthrough come? He said he thought it would happen every week, but when he saw the energy with which the Huskies came out, he had a good feeling.
"We cut hair sometimes, and that's all we need," he said. "You get a little luck and a little momentum, and a lot of difficult play, good things can happen."
And just in time for the Huskies.
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