Huskies roll over Cougars in Apple Cup and earn a bowl appearance

Some of the biggest names in Washington Huskies football history returned to their alma mater earlier this week, asked by coach Chris Petersen to address his young team on the eve of Friday’s Apple Cup game against Washington State.

Warren Moon. Sonny Sixkiller. Lawyer Milloy. Michael Jackson. Jermaine Kearse.

Petersen wanted his freshmen-and-sophomore-laden squad to hear from these men, firsthand, to better understand the stakes of such a rivalry.

Their message, freshman receiver Chico McClatcher said, was clear.

“Just kick their ass, really,” McClatcher said. “That’s it.”

That’s it.

Washington State will finish this season with a better record than the Huskies, and the Cougars will play in a better bowl game.

But for three-plus hours on Friday afternoon, the Huskies punished their higher-ranked rival, forcing seven turnovers and scoring three defensive touchdowns and keeping WSU out of the end zone for nearly three quarters en route to a shockingly dominant 45-10 victory before 70,438 at Husky Stadium.

So for the sixth time in seven years, it was the Huskies who hoisted the Apple Cup trophy afterward, hauling it off the field and into the tunnel, its stay at UW assured for another year.

And the Huskies also guaranteed themselves a trip to a bowl game — low-rent as it might be — for the sixth consecutive season.

They will likely know their bowl destination next Sunday, after conference championship games have been played. For now, they will simply revel in this 35-point victory, the UW’s largest winning margin in an Apple Cup since 2000.

“I know it was our most prepared game, emotionally,” Petersen said. “I was really hoping they were going to play good, because I knew that they were all in. So it was good to see these guys be able to finish in the second half.”

They did it against WSU’s backup quarterback, redshirt freshman Peyton Bender, who made his first career start in place of prolific starter Luke Falk. A head injury sustained last week forced Falk to watch from the sideline.

It became apparent, progressively, why Falk is the starter. Bender looked mostly sharp in the first half, but eventually threw two interceptions — both returned for touchdowns, the first by cornerback Sidney Jones in the third quarter, the second by linebacker Azeem Victor in the fourth — and lost two fumbles. Bender completed 36 of 58 passes, but for only 288 yards.

There were other issues for WSU, too: Dom Williams dropped a third-down tunnel screen that might have gone for a touchdown on the Cougars’ first possession.

So UW led 17-3 at halftime, rushing touchdowns by McClatcher (26 yards on a reverse) and Myles Gaskin (2 yards on a first-and-goal) pacing them to a surprisingly comfortable lead.

But they blew it open in the second half. Bender’s worst throw of the day found the hands of UW cornerback Sidney Jones, who intercepted and returned it 69 yards for a touchdown with nine minutes to play in the third quarter.

And after WSU responded with its only touchdown — a 1-yard toss from Bender to Williams after a Marcellus Pippins interception return set up the Cougars at UW’s 19-yard line — the Huskies rode Gaskin to maybe their most important score, handing the ball to the freshman tailback seven times on an 11-play, 84-yard drive that Gaskin capped with a 5-yard touchdown run.

That made it 31-10 for Washington, and the Cougars never threatened again.

But they did turn the ball over a few more times. Sophomore cornerback Darren Gardenhire scooped a fumble by WSU receiver Gabe Marks — who appeared to suffer a serious lower leg injury on the play — and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown.

On WSU’s next offensive play, Bender threw his second interception, and Victor squeezed it and ran 27 yards for another touchdown.

The Cougars (8-4, 6-3 in Pac-12) lost another fumble later in the fourth quarter, while Bender lost one just before the end of the first half, too.

“That’s what we’re striving for every week,” UW defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski said, “but when they snowball like that and they come in those big chunks, and then we’re able to actually turn them into points, that’s huge momentum.”

The Huskies outgained WSU 443 to 319 in total offense and held the Cougars to 4.6 yards per play.

With 138 yards on 32 carries, Gaskin set UW single-season records for rushing yards (1,121) and touchdowns (10) by a freshman — redshirt or otherwise.

“Washington, they came out ready to play,” WSU linebacker Jeremiah Allison said. “They wanted it more than we did, and this is the outcome.”

The Huskies (6-6, 4-5) reward for this whupping will be one more game, though they don’t know yet where that will be. Could be the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana (a representative from that bowl attended Friday’s game). Or maybe the Heart of Dallas Bowl, or the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.

Achieving bowl eligibility, UW sophomore linebacker Keishawn Bierria said, provided “a little bit of motivation. But definitely, it’s the Apple Cup. It’s huge in Washington. It’s huge to us. It means the most to us. Everybody cares about bragging rights, but this is more personal: This is our legacy we have to leave, and that’s what it’s all about.”

On Friday, it was all about the Huskies.

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Huskies roll over Cougars in Apple Cup and earn a bowl appearance."