Sankey, Washington trample Buffs 59-7

SEATTLE – Swiftly and with great efficiency, the Washington Huskies demolished Colorado here on Saturday night.

Simple as that. Add up the Huskies’ dominance, and it equals a 59-7 Pac-12 football victory, a rout not unexpected – save for the absolute lopsidedness, maybe – before an announced crowd of 66,599 at Husky Stadium.

Nice numbers, sure. But the upshot here is not in the final score. It’s in the significance of the Huskies acquiring their sixth win, and the elevated importance of what lies ahead.

Washington (6-3, 3-3 in Pac-12) is bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive season, an achievement that, not unlike Saturday’s result, was an absolute expectation when the season began.

Whether that bowl appearance will be accompanied by some shine will be determined by a pair of big-boy road ventures: the Huskies next week travel to 16th-ranked UCLA for a Friday night game, then make the trip south to Corvallis the following week for an always-difficult matchup at Oregon State.

“I think we can just prove something to ourselves, first of all,” said running back Bishop Sankey, who rolled 143 yards on 23 carries. “Going in there with the mentality to play Husky football week in and week out is something we take pride in.”

These upcoming games – not this blowout of the lowly Buffaloes (3-6, 0-6), and not the 41-17 rout of California two weeks ago – will determine whether these Huskies have truly taken the necessary steps to shuck their reputation as 7-win wonders.

“We’re over it already,” UW coach Steve Sarkisian said of Saturday’s result.

UW quarterback Keith Price led touchdown drives on four of UW’s first six drives, throwing TD passes to Josh Perkins and Austin Seferian-Jenkins, the latter coming with 2 seconds left in the first half to give UW a 31-7 lead.

By that point, the Huskies already had 464 yards of total offense, and Price had already completed 22 of his 29 passes for 312 yards.

He didn’t throw again. He didn’t need to. Senior cornerback Tre Watson returned an interception 84 yards for a TD on Colorado’s first possession of the second half, then one possession later, Sankey carried the Huskies inside CU’s 5-yard line before Price walked in with a 4-yard touchdown.

A 53-yard fumble return for a score by Marcus Peters and a 5-yard touchdown run by Dwayne Washington turned things real ugly.

The Huskies outscored Colorado 28-0 in the second half … and didn’t attempt a pass.