By Khalid Bennett
The Seattle Medium
After a 21-7 victory in the conference opener on the road against Utah, the Washington Huskies took on the Arizona State Sun Devils in front of a packed house at Husky Stadium for a conference matchup under the lights.
Both teams came into the game with a 2-1 overall record. This was the first Pac-12 conference game for the Sun Devils who were coming off a 28-21 loss to San Diego St. last week. Arizona St. has dominated the series since 2002 winning 11 of their last 12 matchups with Washington. Last season, Arizona St. surprised Washington with an impressive defensive effort winning the game in Tempe 13-7.
It was not the best start for Washington. Washington’s first play from scrimmage resulted in an interception but was not credited to quarterback Jake Browning. The Huskies opened the game with a double pass from wide receiver Andre Baccellia that was picked off the Sun Devils and returned to the Husky 20-yard line. The interception set-up a 1-yard plunge by Arizona State running back Eno Benjamin giving the Sun Devils an early 7-0 lead.
“That [the interception] was on me,” said Husky head football coach Chris Petersen after the game. “The guys didn’t even flinch because I think they knew that one was on me.”
The Huskies would answer on the ensuing drive going 80 yards on 9 plays capped off with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Browning to wide receiver Aaron Fuller to knot the game at 7-7.
After an Arizona State field goal, Washington marched right back down the field. This time on a 5 play, 75 yard drive that culminated in another touchdown pass by Browning, this time to receiver Ty Jones for a 19-yard score giving the lead back to the Huskies, 14-10. Washington would not relinquish the lead and took a 17-10 lead into the locker room at the half.
In the second half, Washington was able to get back to fundamental football and ran the ball with success. The rushing attack hadn’t been what coach Petersen would like it to be throughout the first three games of the season. UW running back Myles Gaskin finished the game with 86 yards rushing, while running mate Salvon Ahmed also contributed to a 171 yard effort on the ground by the Huskies as a team.
Both defenses dug in and played strong in the second half. Washington linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven had an amazing night tallying up a game high 20 tackles on the night. Burr-Kirven also caused two fumbles and recovered one of them in the third quarter. “I didn’t even realize I had that many (tackles),” said Burr-Kirven after the game.
Petersen was pleased with the way his defense held one of the most dynamic players in the Pac-12, ASU receiver N’Keal Harry to only 20 yards receiving for the game.
“It’s hard to keep big time players fully contained,” said Petersen about Harry, who did have a big punt return, but was otherwise slowed down significantly by the Husky defense.
Both teams were only able to manage field goals in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter saw more scoring as Jake Browning threw his third touchdown pass of the game, a 9-yard strike as he rolled to his right and found a wide-open Cade Otton in the back of the end zone to give Washington a 27-13 lead with 11 minutes left in the game.
Arizona State got a late 4th quarter touchdown, as a 41-yard punt return by Harry set up a 55-yard drive that ended with a 1 yard quarterback keeper by Manny Wilkins but it would not be enough as Washington improved their conference record to 2-0 in the Pac-12 north with a 27-20 victory.
This week the Huskies will take on BYU (3-1) at home in what will be their final non-conference game of the year.
