A numbers night: 6-4, 1000, 7, 163.24, 34-15

CenturyLink Field. On a cold November night in Seattle -- Husky weather -- the Washington Huskies beat the Utah Utes, 34-15, behind the running of Bishop Sankey and the passing of Keith Price, to go 6-4 on the season and  become bowl eligible.

Playing their best game of the season against a BCS opponent, the Huskies put up some numbers that bear emphasis:

-- The durable Sankey, whose vision and instincts are unassailable, rushed for 162 yards on 36 carries becoming the tenth Husky to accumulate more than 1,000 yards rushing in a season (1,017).

-- Price's passing efficiency on the game (163.24) was a season's high for him against an FBS opponent. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. Interestingly, his 13-game cumulative PE from last season, 161.93, tracks with his rating on the night. His captivating, infectious smile is back again, and deservedly so.

-- TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins caught seven passes for 99 yards to pass Mark Bruener and become Washington's all-time leader for career receptions by a tight end -- that  is, as a sophomore.

-- The defense held Utah to 188 total yards. The Utes made just 1 of 13 third-down conversions and surrendered four sacks.

"This was a really cool win for our team," UW coach Steve Sarkisian was quoted as saying "We executed in all three phases (offense, defense, special teams) really well."

Measures of offensive line play (running game and pass protection):

-- The Huskies accumulated 437 yards of total offense, with 160 of them coming on the ground.

-- Quarterback Price had a fine performance throwing the ball, his passing efficiency rating being 163.24  on the game. He was sacked three times.

OL Grade: B-plus

See NCAA statistics.

(This article is in the process of being written)

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The Good:

-- Total offense (437 yards)

-- Sankey's 162 rushing yards and two touchdown runs.

-- Price's PE, two TD passes and TD run.

-- TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins caught seven passes for 99 yards.

-- The defensive and special teams' play.

-- Time of possession: 36:40.

-- 7 of 15 third-down conversions.

-- Utah quarterback Travis Wilson's PE (46.17) on the game.

The Bad:

-- John White's 46-yard touchdown run.

-- 8 penalties for 72 yards

The Ugly:

-- The OL allowed three sacks

Last year's top-25 opponents annihilated the Dawgs on the ground. See Table 1 below.

Table 1. Last year's rush defense against top-25 teams bodes ominously for the Dawgs in 2012. Emboldened rows are from this year's defense.

Team	Rank	UW Rushing Defense	Score
Nebraska	24	309	L 38-56
Stanford	7	446	L 21-65
Oregon	4	212	L 17-34
USC	6	252	L 17-40
Baylor	13	482	L 67-56
LSU	2	242	L 41-3
Stanford	8	65	W 17-13
Oregon	2	299	L 52-21
USC	11	204	L 24-14
OSU	7	109	W 20-17

Table 1. Keith Price's cumulative passing efficiency.

Team	C	A	Y	T	I	PE	C	A	Y	T	I	PE
SDSU	25	35	222	1	0	134.14	25	35	222	1	0	134.14
LSU	17	36	157	0	1	78.3	42	71	379	1	1	105.83
PSU	14	19	181	3	0	205.81	56	90	560	4	1	126.93
Stanford	19	37	177	1	1	95.05	75	127	737	5	2	117.64
Oregon	19	31	145	0	2	87.68	94	158	882	5	4	111.76
USC	20	28	198	2	2	140.11	114	186	1080	7	6	116.03
Arizona	29	52	256	1	2	95.78	143	238	1336	8	8	111.61
OSU	18	30	194	0	1	107.65	161	268	1530	8	9	111.16
Cal	16	29	237	1	1	128.30	177	297	1767	9	10	112.84
Utah	24	33	277	2	0	163.24	201	330	2044	11	10	117.88

 

Team	1	2	3	4	Total
Utah	8	0	7	0	15
Washington	0	14	13	7	34

 

Time	Team	How	Player (s)	Utah	UW
1st qtr
5:27	Utah	TD	John White 46 yd run (Jake Murphy 2pt run)	8	0
2nd qtr
11:28	UW	TD	Kasen Williams 8 yd pass from Keith Price (Travis Coons kick)	8	7
2:16	UW	TD	Keith Price 4 yd run (Coons kick)	8	14
3rd qtr
10:13	UW	TD	DiAndre Campbell 9 yd pass from Keith Price (Travis Coons kick)	8	21
6:06	Utah	TD	John White 20 yd run (Coleman Petersen kick)	15	21
1:56	UW	TD	Bishop Sankey 2 yd run (2pt pass failed)	15	27
4th qtr
3:58	UW	TD	Bishop Sankey 4 yd run (Travis Coons kick)	15	34

 

Statistics	Utah	UW
Total First Downs	9	22
Rushing	5	9
Passing	3	11
Penalty	1	2
Total Net Yards	188	437
Net Yards Passing	55	277
Net Yards Rushing	133	160
Completions-att-int	8-23-1	24-33-0
Punts, yards, average	6-219; 36.5	5-170; 34.0
Sacks by (number, yards)	3-24	4-24
Kickoff Returns: number, yds, tds	6-69-0	3-46-0
Punt returns: number, yds, tds	4-6-0	1--2-0
Kickoff Yards	3-181	6-265
Net Yards per kickoff	45.0	32.7
Average yards per kickoff	60.3	44.2
Touchbacks (kickoffs)	0	0
Third-down conversions	1 of 13	7 of 15
Interception returns: no., yds, tds	0-0-0	1-13-0
Penalties, no., Yards	6-36	8-72
Fumbles; number/lost	5-1	2-1
Time of Possession	23:20	36:40

Passing	cmp	att	yds	tds	int
Travis Wilson; 46.17	8	23	55	0	1
Washington
Keith Price; 163.24	24	33	277	2	0
Utah Rushing	No.	yds	tds	long
John White	22	142	2	46
Reggie Dunn	1	4	0	4
Travis Wilson	7	-13	0	10
Washington Rushing	No.	yds	tds	long
Bishop Sankey	36	162	2	25
Keith Price	6	-2	1	11
Utah Pass Receiving	No.	yds	tds	long
Luke Matthews	4	25	0	13
John White	2	-1	0	2
D. Anderson	1	18	0	18
Kenneth Scott	1	13	0	13
Washington Pass Rec.	No.	yds	tds	long
Kasen Williams	7	73	1	20
Austin Seferian-Jenkins	7	99	0	29
Evan Hudson	1	6	0	6
Jaydon Mickens	1	47	0	47
Kendyl Taylor	1	7	0	7
Cody Bruns	2	23	0	19
Bishop Sankey	4	13	0	13
DiAndre Campbell	1	9	1	9
Punting
Utah	No.	yds	avg	long	IN20
Tom Hackett	3	112	37.3	44	3
Sean Sellwood	3	107	35.7	42	0
Washington
Travis Coons	5	170	34.0	43	1
Attendance: 60,050

Richard Linde, aka Malamute can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com