Huskies nearly perfect in 35-7 rout of BYU

The pursuit of perfection is a long and arduous journey that only a few teams ever reach. Those few teams that reach perfection are called best of all time or greatest at the very least. The good teams purse perfection and while they might fall short of it, records are broken and victories are plentiful.

The No.11 ranked University of Washington Huskies (4-1) played a near-perfect game in their 35-7 dismantling of No.20 BYU (3-2) Saturday night at Husky Stadium. Quarterback Jake Browning became the Huskies all-time leader in passing yards when he hit Drew Sample with a nine-yard pass late in the second quarter. Browning finished the game completing 23 of 25 passed for  277 yards and a touchdown.

The Huskies running game did its part in the dismantling of the 20th ranked Cougars. Salvon Ahmed rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns while fellow running mate  Myles Gaskin rushed for 82 yards and one touchdown.

The  Husky defense looked like it was on its way to a shutting out a ranked opponent for the first time since 1990 but a muffed punt led to a one-yard touchdown run by BYU running back Lopini Katoa with just 41 seconds left in the game. Despite the late touchdown which was scored on the Huskies defensive backups, Husky linebacker  Ben Burr-Kirven was pleased with the play of the team as a whole.

POST GAME NOTES

Jake Browning became the sixth player in Pac-12 history to account for 100 touchdowns in their career when he hit Drew Sample in the third quarter for a 15-yard TD pass. He has 86 through the air and 14 rushing.

• Browning was 23 of 25 (92%) through the air to miss tying the NCAA record for passing percentage by one completion. He did end up second all-time in UW history, trailing just Tom Flick’s (16-17, .941) night vs. Arizona in 1980, but set a new UW standard from a QB with more than 20 passes thrown and 20 passes completed.

• Myles Gaskin’s second-quarter, six-yard TD run moved him into a tie for sixth all-time in Pac-12 history with 48 rushing scores. He is tied with Ka’Deem Carey (ARIZ) and Skip Hicks (UCLA) on the list. • Salvon Ahmed recorded his first touchdown of the season with a five-yard, first quarter rush. He added a second TD later and now has five in his career.

• Drew Sample’s touchdown was the third of his career, the first since his freshman season (last TD: Nov. 7, 2015 vs. Utah). • Aaron Fuller had eight more catches for 107 yards, the third time this season he has eclipsed the 100-yard plateau. He entered the year with 42 catches for 475 yards in his first two seasons. He has 30 catches for 474 yards infive games this year.

• Linebacker Brandon Wellington made his 2018 debut in BYU’s second offensive series of the second quarter. • The 39 reception by Matt Bushman from Tanner Mangum in the first quarter was the longest pass play by a UW opponent this season. • UW has won 18-straight games non-conference games at home. Last loss: Sept. 18, 2010 vs. Nebraska.

• The Huskies have yet to allow touchdown in the second or third quarters. They have allowed just two field goals in the second and third quarters. They have allowed three TDs in both the first and fourth quarters.

• The only passing TD allowed by the Huskies this season came in the first quarter of the first game of the season vs. Auburn at the 11:45 mark. That’s a span of 284 minutes, 15-seconds since that lone passing TD.