Huskies in the Top Four After Domination of Oregon State
By Ben Renner
The Washington Huskies officially entered the College Football Playoff conversation with a dominating 41-17 win over Oregon State.
If you don’t know, now you know. The Huskies looked like a scary team on the march to a national title chance yesterday during their 41-17 blowout over Oregon State. The Huskies out-gained the Beavers’ offense 519 to 325 and took over against Oregon State’s third string quarterback and third string running back.
The Beavers’ strength is its pass defense, but Huskies quarterback Jake Browning managed three touchdown passes to leave no doubt about the outcome. The Huskies defense intercepted Marcus McMaryion twice while running back Myles Gaskin ran for 128 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Receiver John Ross continued to terrorize Pac-12 defenses, catching four passes for 115 yards. The Huskies led the Beavers 31-0 by halftime and weren’t about to let Oregon State back into the game from there.
The Huskies will now travel to Salt Lake City to take on Utah. The Utes are probably the biggest challenge in the Pac-12 left for the Huskies, who will be watching the other college football powers of the country battle each other the rest of the season.
The Utes game is by no means a gimmie, as the last several games have been for Washington, but there is no team in the conference that appears better than UW this year. They have exorcised their demons against Stanford and Oregon and handled their business against the Beavers. We appear headed for an epic Apple Cup matchup if the Cougars can keep winning.
Since Ohio State lost, Washington moved into the top four in the national college football rankings, putting them in contention for the College Football Playoff and a chance for the national title. They just have to keep winning and watching to reach the championship game now.