SAN FRANCISCO — Bishop Sankey ran for 95 yards and two scores to tie Washington’s career touchdown record and the Huskies went on to beat BYU 31-16 in the Fight Hunger Bowl on Friday night.
Keith Price added a 16-yard TD pass to Austin Seferian-Jenkins, and John Ross returned a kick 100 yards for another score to help the Huskies (9-4) win their most games since going 11-1 and winning the Rose Bowl in 2000.
Taysom Hill threw for 293 yards and ran for 133 yards and a score for the Cougars (8-5), who had their four-game bowl winning streak snapped. Justin Sorensen kicked three field goals but also missed one in the third quarter after an interception by Robertson Daniel gave BYU prime field position.
The game capped a whirlwind month for the Huskies that began with coach Steve Sarkisian leaving for the same job at Southern California. Chris Petersen was hired away from Boise State to take over at Washington and quarterbacks coach Marques Tuiasosopo coached the bowl game on an interim basis. The Huskies won just their second bowl game since Tuiasosopo led them to that Rose Bowl win over Purdue 13 years ago.
The defense led the way this game, holding the Cougars to four field goal attempts and one touchdown on five drives inside the Huskies 30.
The Huskies were much more efficient on their scoring drives with Sankey scoring on a pair of 11-yard runs in the first half to give him 38 career touchdowns, tying the school record held by George Wilson (1923-25).
Price then led a touchdown drive to open the third quarter, capping it with a well-placed throw to Seferian-Jenkins on third-and-8 to make it 28-16. Price went 17 for 23 for 123 yards before leaving with an apparent rib injury in the second half.
Sankey also did not play the fourth quarter because of an injury but it did not matter. Backup quarterback Cyler Miles had a 32-yard run to set up Travis Coons’ 45-yard field goal that made it 31-16 midway through the fourth.
A strong defensive effort led by Hau’oli Kikaha (three sacks) and John Timu (14 tackles, one sack and an interception) kept BYU off the scoreboard for the entire second half.
Tuiasosopo was aggressive in his first game as head coach, going for it twice in the first quarter on fourth-and-short. Sankey converted the first but was stopped for a 9-yard loss by Kyle Van Noy on the second try.
That was one of the few times the Cougars stopped Sankey, who scored on Washington’s first and last possessions of the first half to give the Huskies a 21-16 lead at the break.
Ross also answered Hill’s 1-yard run that tied the game early in the second quarter with his long kickoff return that gave the Huskies the lead for good.
BYU used its own fourth-down conversion to get a touchdown with Daniel Sorensen running 4 yards on fourth-and-2 from punt formation, leading to Hill’s 1-yard run.
The Cougars then settled for three field goals by Justin Sorensen in the second quarter.
The game made history by being the first ever in the FBS with two female officials. Sarah Thomas was the line judge and Maia Chaka was the head linesman based on their work in Conference USA this season.
