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The course of Washington at the beginning of the season was clear. If he managed to beat Auburn in the opening game of the season, his talent might be enough to dominate Pac-12, less ambitious, and force the selection committee to integrate the Huskies – and thus the Pac-12 – at the college football game. for the second time in three years. But the Huskies lost to Auburn, then Oregon and Cal, while the quarterback Jake Browning, who has been running for four years, briefly failed at Berkeley.
As expected in August, the Huskies will be playing for a conference title on November 30 in Santa Clara, but thanks to the timing of one of their best performances of the year, the stakes will be much less important. The Pac-12s will again not be represented at college football matches as Washington extended its winning streak on Washington State with a 28-15 victory in snow, in divisions and numbers, at Pullman.
The defeat broke Washington's 13-game home-winning streak and set up a title match for the Washington-Utah conference for a spot at the Rose Bowl. Washington State has now lost six consecutive Apple Cups and nine of the last ten, the last three with a chance to win a division title.
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At the send-off, with the temperature falling to 30 ° C and the driving rain slowly turning into a blizzard, Washington turned to his ground game and senior midfielder Myles Gaskin, who totaled 170 yards and three touchdowns, becoming the first half to return for 1,000 yards or more in four consecutive years.
After the first two Gaskin scores, Washington State scored 33 seconds before the end of the first period when James Williams took the lead in the middle for 11 yards to reduce the deficit by half. .
The Huskies took advantage of their first possession of the first period to go up two points. After a 57-yard pass for Hunter Bryant's third and 16th, Washington coach Chris Peterson did everything for the next double game for a double-throw from Browning to Aaron Fuller for a 22-wide open. – yard score.
This side may not have affected his line of statistics, but he still reflected on Browning, who became the most successful quarterback in conference history and the only starting quarterback to go 4-0. in the Apple Cup one night during which he finished 11 -14 for 207 yards and an interception.
Petersen's strategy of slowing quarterback Gardner Minshew and the first-choice attack in the country was to rush only three Huskies and cover eight players, mostly in the area. It worked perfectly as Minshew, who has six 400-yard games under his belt this season, was forced to lose. Minshew finished 26 of the 35 on a total of 152 yards with two interceptions. Washington played a game all night with 20 yards or more and 237 yards of offense, by far its lowest performance of the season. The Cougars receivers had trouble all night in the deep snow trying to find creases, and although Minshew faced a light run, he was still unable to produce big games in the field.
Friday night's result puts a damper on what had become a magical season for the state of Washington. Earlier this month, head coach Mike Leach pleaded for the expansion of the playoffs to college football, saying 16 teams would be the ideal format. This would be the only way for the Cougars to dream of winning a championship this season.
The Cougars have not won an absolute title at the conference since 1930, but they are still able to qualify for a big bowl. Still, this last disappointment against their most bitter rival will sting, and not least because Washington has made the demoralizing Apple Cup decisive wins a division.
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