SEATTLE — Myles Gaskin rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns as Washington cruised to a 49-0 victory over Sacramento State on Saturday.
Gaskin scored on runs of 3, 16 and 78 yards and Jake Browning passed for 326 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way for the Huskies (1-1).
Gaskin’s 146 yards were the third most by a true freshman in program history, behind Joe Steele’s 157 against Oregon in 1976 and Willie Hurst’s 155 against UCLA in 1998.
“That is what we have seen out of him all fall camp,” head coach Chris Petersen said. “He seems to have a knack to be pretty patient, which is a little bit uncharacteristic for a young guy,” Petersen said. “I think that’s kind of his style. I think we’ll keep building on that.”
After a sluggish first quarter, Gaskin helped get the Washington offense rolling, accounting for 50 of Washington’s 63 yards on a nine-play scoring drive that culminated with a 3-yard Gaskin touchdown to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead. Gaskin would add a 16-yard touchdown run on the next Washington possession.
Kevin King intercepted Daniel Kniffin on the first play of the Hornets (1-1) ensuing possession to set up another Washington touchdown. Dwayne Washington’s 11-yard touchdown run gave the Huskies a 21-0 lead.
Browning then marched Washington on a 90-yard scoring drive to close the first half with the Huskies leading 28-0.
Sacramento State put together a promising opening drive to the game, moving to the Washington 27-yard line before stalling. Brad Cornish missed a 44-yard field goal to keep the game scoreless.
Washington held the Hornets to just 11 yards rushing. Kniffin finished 18-of-35 for 181 yards with an interception.
“You mess up on a rotation or you mess up on a call, one little inch is a touchdown,” Sacramento State head coach Jody Sears said. “We’ve had success in the past (against FBS schools). I know the past doesn’t equal the future, but I was expecting to get on the scoreboard. That’s inexcusable.”
Washington turned the ball over on downs on their opening possession and was forced to punt after a Manoah Pearson sack of Browning pushed the Huskies out of field goal range on their next drive. The Huskies scored touchdowns on seven of their next eight possessions to take command.
Browning tossed his first two touchdowns of his career in the third quarter before deferring to backup K.J. Carta-Samuels. A nearly intercepted pass from Browning fell into the arms of Marvin Hall, who raced for a 78-yard touchdown to extend Washington’s lead to 35-0.
“There were a couple things that he was making a lot harder on himself than he needs to, but obviously the kid can throw it in there,” Petersen said. “He can do that. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good on a few throws and we saw that as well.”
Browning came back with a 49-yard touchdown pass to Chico McClatcher on the Huskies next possession to take a 42-0 lead. Browning’s 326 yards is the most ever by a true freshman quarterback for Washington.
“We didn’t score any touchdowns on offense (last week at Boise State) and now we scored seven on offense,” Browning said. “I think things were clicking. I think it was a big team effort on offense.”
Carta-Samuels fumbled after being sacked by Malcolm Thomas to give Sacramento State its best scoring opportunity of the game in the fourth quarter. However, two negative rushes, a false start and a personal foul later left Cornish attempting a 48-yard field goal, which was blocked by Taniela Tupou.
