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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Blanchette: UW freshman QB Jake Browning has rough day vs. Cal

SEATTLE – You know how when somebody of Pac-12 pedigree rolls over some crumb-bum outfit like Utah State or Wyoming, and snooty writers weigh in that it doesn’t mean much of anything? And you know how it drives the loyal-to-the-extreme believers nuts?

So why do we keep doing it?

This is why:

A week ago against Utah State, Jake Browning was being posed for his bust in Canton after his third game as a college quarterback, throwing for a Washington freshman-record 368 yards before he’d so much as strolled into a lecture hall on campus.

And on Saturday? Twenty-four minutes into the Huskies’ Pac-12 opener against Cal, the 18-year-old freshman was 0-of-3 with an interception and three sacks – and his quarterback efficiency rating was 66.7.

Wait. Make that minus 66.7.

Did you even know such a thing could be measured in minuses? Sheesh. Even Bluto Blutarsky pulled a 0.0.

See, what happened a week ago to the Huskies – or Washington State or Arizona or any other Pac-12 school that opted to slum it in scheduling – wasn’t just yesterday’s news. It was a mostly pointless barometer of growth, progress or achievement as it relates to the here and now of the conference grind, of which the Huskies received full appreciation in a 30-24 loss to the Bears at Husky Stadium.

It didn’t take much for Browning himself to grasp the difference from week to week.

“A lot more picks,” he said, “a lot less yards and a lot less touchdowns.”

Well, yes. This was the one that was revealing, in every way.

Now, that included the mettle Washington displayed in rallying from a three-touchdown deficit to get within 40 yards of taking the lead, the resilience of their precocious quarterback and even more the resourcefulness of a defense mostly cast adrift by the Husky offense all game long.

But it also included some downright ghastly football – attributable to youthful ditziness or not – and perhaps even some coachly impatience with all that youth.

What we know is that the Huskies had no business being in position to pull out a victory with two minutes to go – except that they had no reason being as lousy as they were for a half, either.

But then Cal defensive end Kyle Kragen steamed past tackle Matt James and flushed Browning from the pocket, making him late on his throw to Jaydon Mickens – but right on time for Cal’s Damariay Drew to intercept for UW’s fifth and finally fatal turnover.

But there’s a good deal more troubling the Huskies a month into the season than turnovers, and coach Chris Petersen knows it.

“Turning the ball over, missing that many tackles, getting beat that bad in time of possession – that’s a recipe for disaster,” he said.

See, when the Huskies weren’t perfecting the untimely pick and the killing fumble, they were rehearsing the crushing sack and the silly penalty. The offense couldn’t stay on the field and the defense couldn’t get off often enough on third down – time of possession favored the Bears 21 minutes to nine in the first half, 40-20 for the game.

There was one moment of clarity, however, in the first quarter when the Huskies looked to have solved the puzzle.

Down 3-0, Browning handed the ball five straight times to tailback Dwayne Washington – who covered 71 yards in spectacular fashion for a momentum-turning touchdown.

Oddly, that accounted for half of Washington’s carries on the day – Petersen all but abandoning the running game as Cal took the lead from 10-7 to 27-7.

“The question is more why weren’t the other drives working like that one,” he said. “At times, they made it look so easy. You don’t expect it to be that easy all the time, but it needs to be easier that it was that whole game when we were kind of stumbling all over ourselves way too much.”

If there was an exception, it was the defense – even without safety Buddha Baker, one of UW’s best. Sidney Jones’ 70-yard fumble force-and-return changed the game’s whole tenor, and Cal’s Jared Goff, the quarterbacking flavor of the month, generously paid tribute to “the best defense I’ve played in a long.”

When they bothered to wrap up a tackle, which was maybe half the time.

Now, not only do they have a bye week to stew over this one, but here’s what’s ahead in the next month: USC, Oregon, Stanford, Arizona. With Utah to lead off November.

“It’s not going to get any easier and we know that,” Petersen said. “Everybody’s good in this league and you have a new challenge. That’s the hard thing having a young team – the scheme is going to be different the next time you play. You’d like to be able to repeat this game plan and get it right, but it’s not that simple. These guys will come back. It’s way too early in the season.”

Hmm. If it’s still early, then just what did that first month mean?