Washington Huskies proved their point in run to national semifinals
Washington coach Chris Petersen didn’t understand all the attention his team was getting over the summer, and he didn’t want it.
“The hype means nothing. The hype almost sets us back. The hype almost hurts us, in terms of what we’re trying to do,” he said in July. “I just don’t like the preseason stuff. Let’s go earn it and prove it.”
The Huskies, who opened the season ranked No. 14 in The Associated Press poll, adopted a “Prove It” mantra in the offseason, a theme of Petersen’s creation. He even had purple T-shirts made for the team with the theme printed in white block letters on the front, players’ jersey number on the back.
And here the Huskies are, months later, having proven plenty. Now they will get a chance to prove they are the nation’s best.
Coming off their first Pac-12 championship since 2000, the Huskies, now ranked No. 4, are in the College Football Playoff for the first time and have a Dec. 31 date with No. 1 Alabama (13-0) in the first national semifinal during the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. The winner advances to the Jan. 9 national-championship game in Tampa, Fla.
Before getting there, a look back at how the Huskies got here:
September surge
The Huskies could not have asked for a better start in their season opener against Rutgers. En route to a 48-13 victory at home Sept. 3, UW built a quick 24-0 lead with a first-quarter surge that would become a trend for the Huskies throughout the season.
Jake Browning threw three touchdown passes in the opening quarter, on plays of 43 yards (to Chico McClatcher), 38 (to John Ross III) and 50 (to Ross again). Ross added a 92-yard kickoff return in his first game back after missing all of 2015 with a knee injury. What a return, indeed.
There’s no denying the Huskies had an underwhelming nonconference schedule, but they did what they were supposed to do the following two weeks against the likes of Idaho (59-14) and Portland State (41-3).
Even before seeing UW up close, Portland State coach Bruce Barnum was so impressed with the Huskies that he said he thought they could win the national championship.
“I wouldn’t be shocked at all,” he said. “I don’t know what the odds are in Vegas because I can’t gamble because I’m a head coach in college football, but if I was in front of a tote board right now … I’d mortgage my house and put it on the Huskies.”
Overtime thriller
Even at 3-0, the Huskies had much to prove going into Tucson for their Pac-12 opener. Arizona has been a harrowing place for the Huskies, who hadn’t won in the desert since 2006.
They finally got it done Sept. 24, but needed overtime to do it. In the extra time, Browning threw the winning touchdown pass to Dante Pettis, who reached high to snag the short throw for a 4-yard score and a 35-28 victory. Pettis actually was Browning’s third read on the play.
The Huskies were finally able to celebrate when Arizona sophomore quarterback Brandon Dawkins, who had been terrific in his first Pac-12 start, threw incomplete into the end zone on fourth down.
Running back Lavon Coleman had a breakout game for UW, rushing for a career-high 181 yards on 11 carries, including a 24-yard run on the first play of overtime to set up Browning’s touchdown pass to Pettis.
Oh, what a night
They came in waves. At first, just a handful of students from the Dawg Pack leapt over the rail and onto the Husky Stadium’s west end zone. Then they kept coming … and coming … and coming.
The students swarmed around Washington players and coaches at midfield, and then all over the field, bouncing and dancing and posing for selfies left and right in celebration of the Huskies’ most impressive victory in more than a decade.
In the first showdown of top 10 teams in Husky Stadium in 19 years, the No. 10 Huskies never gave No. 7 Stanford a chance. Washington stunned the reigning conference champion 44-6 in the Friday night showcase event before an ESPN audience Sept. 30.
“That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of,” Browning said.
For members of UW’s 1991 national-championship team – on hand for a 25-year anniversary tribute – it must have felt familiar. The Huskies’ defense finished with eight sacks and shut down Heisman Trophy favorite Christian McCaffrey (12 carries, 49 yards) by beating Stanford at its own game, with a smashing, bruising brand won at the line of scrimmage.
They did so before the largest – and rowdiest – crowd at Husky Stadium in six years, an announced sellout of 72,072. The building shook like it hadn’t in years.
“What a night,” Petersen said. “That truly was the greatest setting in college football.”
The victory signaled UW’s return to national prominence. Two days later, the Huskies jumped to No. 5 in The Associated Press Top 25, their highest ranking since the end of the 2000 season.
Making their point
Eight days later came this: Washington 70, Oregon 21.
The Ducks’ 12-year reign in the rivalry was completely, emphatically, dramatically over on Oct. 8. In signaling a changing of the guard in Northwest supremacy, the Huskies did something no opponent had ever done in Eugene’s Autzen Stadium – scoring 70 points, and doing so with an assassin’s precision.
Just as stunning as the Huskies’ sudden return to power, Oregon’s fall from grace was equally so. The defeat continued a tailspin for the Ducks, much to the delight of Husky fans everywhere. It had been 14 years since the Huskies were last able to celebrate a victory in Eugene.
“I’d have to look down to see Cloud Nine,” UW offensive lineman Kaleb McGary said after the game. “This was personal — a lot more than just player-to-player, program-to-program. This was for UW. This was incredible. This was absolutely incredible.”
Browning was the catalyst, finishing with a school-record eight total touchdowns, including six passing touchdowns, also a school record, to put him in the middle of the Heisman Trophy chase at the season’s halfway point.
Browning also had the game’s seminal moment when, on his first touchdown run, he pointed at an Oregon linebacker as he crossed the goal line. The Point drew a taunting penalty, and Browning later apologized for the act, but, by then, the Huskies had made their point.
Great Salt Lake escape
After a rather expected 41-17 rout of Oregon State at home Oct. 22, the undefeated Huskies went to Salt Lake City to play No. 17 Utah with ESPN’s “College GameDay” in town.
The game lived up the billing. With the score tied in the fourth quarter, Pettis returned a punt 58 yards for the winning touchdown with 3:25 remaining, sending the Huskies to a 31-24 victory — the type of grind-it-out victory the Huskies hadn’t yet experienced.
“Obviously, the blowouts are nice,” Browning said, “but when you come into a four-quarter game, a four-quarter fight, you want to be able to pull those ones out. That was big for us.”
Myles Gaskin had 151 yards on 19 carries, Ross had two touchdown receptions, and the Huskies largely shut down former UW quarterback Troy Williams.
A week later, UW went back on the road and thumped California 66-27 to improve to 9-0 for the first time since 1991. Browning threw six touchdown passes against the Bears – three each to Ross and Pettis – to break Keith Price’s school record for touchdown passes in a season.
Perfect no more
The Huskies wouldn’t get to 10-0.
USC shut down the Washington offense, holding the Huskies to just 17 rushing yards and intercepting Browning twice. Worse, UW lost star middle linebacker Azeem Victor to a broken leg early in the second quarter, and when it was over the Trojans celebrated all over the Husky Stadium field following their 26-13 upset Nov. 12.
It was the Huskies’ first defeat in 363 days.
“Here’s where we find out: Are we the front-runners that only play well when things are going well?” Browning said. “(Or) are we going to respond, bounce back stronger? I’ll be interested to see: What kind of team are we?”
The rebound
After their first defeat, the Huskies provided some strong answers in a 44-18 pummeling of Arizona State at home, UW’s first victory over the Sun Devils since 2001. In the process, Washington secured its first 10-win season since 2000 and kept its College Football Playoff chase on track.
For all the great plays Ross and Pettis have made this season for the UW offense, the one-handed interception by senior cornerback Kevin King in the left corner of the end zone is probably the best play of the year for UW.
Apple Cup for the ages
In one of the most anticipated Apple Cups ever, with the Pac-12 North title on the line, the Huskies never left any doubt. UW rolled out to a 28-3 first-quarter lead and buried Washington State for the fourth year in a row, 45-17.
Washington’s defense intercepted WSU’s Luke Falk three times and had two game-changing goal-line stands to once again shut down the Cougars’ “Air Raid” attack. The Huskies won their first North division title and quickly turned their attention to the Pac-12 championship game.
“We don’t have time to pat ourselves on the back,” Browning said.
Pac-12 champs
Freshman safety Taylor Rapp intercepted Colorado’s Sefo Liufau on the first snap of the third quarter and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown, and Washington’s defense dominated the Pac-12 championship game in a 41-10 rout of the No. 9 Buffaloes at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
Rapp had another interception on the Buffaloes’ next possession and earned the game’s MVP honors.
“I’m still trying to take it all in right now,” Rapp said on the field later, purple and gold confetti at his feet. “It’s so surreal. It feels like a dream.”
It was the Huskies’ first conference championship in 16 years, and afterward Petersen said he was confident the CFP committee would reward the Huskies with their first playoff berth two days later.
Bring on ’Bama
There wound up being much debate, but the Huskies got in the playoff. Their reward? A date with No. 1 Alabama, the undefeated defending national champion.
Petersen this week said Alabama is “probably the best college team I’ve seen,” and he knows it will be an enormous challenge. He also expects his Huskies to be well prepared.
“It’s an exciting time for us. It’ll be an exciting game,” he said this week. “I’m really excited to see our guys compete at this level. Every time they’ve been challenged they’ve risen up and performed well. We’ll have to be at our best to do what we want to do, for sure.”