The coaching staff appears to be saving him for the 9-game conference slate where Gaskin averaged 19 carries and 103 yards per game previous year.
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Washington is ranked number eight in the nation with a 2-0 undefeated record after blowout victories over Rutgers and Idaho.
Washington added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter as both teams played out the string with backups on the field.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network.
Question is: Are they ready for it?
“We’ve been starting at this schedule for a long time”, UW coach Chris Petersen said, “going, ‘OK, we have our first three games, which have their own unique challenges, but then we start our league in a tough way'”.
Second meeting all-time but first at Husky Stadium.
UW then travels to OR on October 8.
But nobody chooses to play for UW so they can face the kind of competition – or lack thereof – the Huskies saw in these first three weeks.
“Of course”, said sophomore quarterback Jake Browning, when asked if he’s glad to be done with the nonconference schedule. “Nothing is going to be flawless and we’re always trying to fix things”, Petersen said at a press conference. “We’ve done what we needed to do the first three games, and now we need to take on Arizona”. In some ways, that is unsurprising; the team was playing a completely overmatched opponent for the third week in a row, the crowd was tiny (announced, 57,151; actual, probably around 20,000), and the Dawgs jumped out to a quick and seemingly insurmountable lead.
The conclusion to Washington’s uninspired non-conference slate comes Saturday when the Huskies host FCS Portland State. Through two games this year, the Vikings have yet to force a turnover.
The aggregate score of 148-30 in UW’s 3-0 start is the program’s most lopsided in nonconference play since UW’s national-championship team of 1991, which defeated Nebraska (36-21), Toledo (48-0) and Kansas State (56-3). Jonathan Gonzales kicked a 26-yard field goal late in the third quarter to give PSU its only points of the game.
Very little, frankly. This, again, is what they were supposed to do.
That someone was not Portland State.
“That’s brutal”, Vikings head coach Bruce Barnum said of the turnover issues. “I just read that stat”. I’d also like to marry Miss America, but some things never happen.
Jake Browning’s mechanics and decision-making are remarkably advanced, to the point that it is easy to forget he has played just 15 games in his young career.
Offensively the Huskies were able to get off to a fast start, unlike the previous week’s game against Idaho.
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Running game hasn’t gotten totally on track: One of the biggest concerns the Huskies had entering that game was its rushing attack that averaged just 108.5 yards per game and 3.6 per carry in the first two outings. He finished with 93 rushing yards on 13 carries. Washington, McClatcher 4-69, Fuller 3-34, Daniels 2-35, Dissly 1-27, Sample 1-11, J.Ross 1-10, Gaskin 1-4, Ajamu 1-4.
