Thompson’s returns spark Huskies

SEATTLE – Gathered in the Husky Stadium end zone, Washington Huskies players and coaches joined the marching band in the singing of the school’s fight song, customary behavior after victories. And because of how thoroughly the Huskies dominated Illinois on Saturday, they were joined by very few others. Most of the announced crowd of 62,325 had long since journeyed elsewhere by the time this one ended, as Washington led start to finish in its 44-19 thrashing of the overmatched Fighting Illini. The Huskies (3-0) led 21-3 before the end of the first quarter and 38-12 at halftime, and the thought never existed that Illinois could win. It seems, then, that this effort at least approximated the kind of balanced, complete performance the Huskies and coach Chris Petersen desired after a pair of tenuous victories to start the season. “I think we’re making progress,” Petersen said. “I don’t know how complete it is. We made some field goals, punting can be cleaned up. But I just keep telling them – Monday doesn’t change. If it doesn’t change with how the focus and effort has been the last couple Mondays, we’ll be headed in the right direction.” Truthfully, next Saturday probably won’t change, either. That’s when the Huskies host Georgia State, which is coming off an 0-12 season and is in its fifth year of existence as a football program, and so another blowout is the only expectation. Not much can be accomplished against such an opponent. Washington’s Sept. 27 Pac-12 opener against Stanford holds far more intrigue. Illinois is certainly better than Georgia State, but it’s probably a safe bet that the Illini aren’t really all that good, either. The Huskies made them look that way, at least, outgaining the Illini 464-351, recording six sacks and forcing three turnovers. Two of those takeaways resulted in touchdowns, both by linebacker Shaq Thompson. First, he intercepted Illinois quarterback Wes Lunt and returned the ball 36 yards for a touchdown to give UW a 21-3 lead. Then, he scooped a fumble off he turf after an Andrew Hudson strip-sack, toting the ball 52 yards to the end zone to put the Huskies ahead 35-5 early in the second quarter. In doing so, he became the first Huskies player since at least 1978 to return a fumble and an interception for touchdowns in the same game.