Washington looked like the best team in the Pac-12 for most of the season but suffered their first loss of the year last week to USC. As a result, the team had quite a bit of frustration built up over the week.
Arizona State just happened to be next on the schedule and the end result wasn’t pretty for the Sun Devils on Saturday night, as the Huskies battered and bruised their Pac-12 South rivals 44-18 in a game that could have been far worse than that score line indicated.
Quarterback Jake Browning started slow for Washington, throwing two interceptions, but started to click with his receivers in the second quarter and never looked back. He finished with 338 yards and two touchdowns after righting the ship and got the offense going with some big pass plays down the field. Tailback Myles Gaskin had an under the radar game and finished with 127 yards and a score.
The Huskies defense made this one a laugher by bottling up ASU’s offense, forcing eight punts, capturing two turnovers and recording six sacks on the night. The Sun Devils only got only over the 100 yard mark late in the second half and put their only points on the board well after the game was decided.
A dominating, blowout win like that should help Washington recover a little bit of their reputation after last week in the eyes of the selection committee. The Huskies will head to Pullman for the Apple Cup against Washington State next week looking to clinch the Pac-12 North and continue to press their case for one of the four semifinal spots.
