SEATTLE _ And now the real fun begins.
The No. 6 Huskies should get their best test yet when they travel to Colorado next week for their Pac-12 opener in Boulder. It should be tougher, anyway, than anything they experienced in their three nonconference games, including Saturday night's 48-16 rout of Fresno State at Husky Stadium.
The Huskies (3-0) once again did what they were supposed to do against a severely overmatched opponent. Fresno State, collecting a $1 million payday for the game, picked up a first down on the second snap of the game. That was about as good as it got for the Bulldogs against Washington's starters in the first half.
By the end of the first quarter, Washington had a 27-0 lead. By halftime, the score was 41-7.
In a rematch of last season's Pac-12 championship game, things shouldn't be quite so easy for the Huskies against a Colorado team that is also 3-0 (and also played a rather soft nonconference schedule).
The Huskies appear ready for it.
They needed less than 10 minutes to build a 27-0 lead.
Dante Pettis returned another punt for a touchdown, this one from 77 yards, to give him eight punt-return TDs of his career _ tying the all-time NCAA record. His three straight games with a punt-return TD also tied an NCAA record.
Myles Gaskin scored three first-half touchdowns, two rushing and one receiving.
Jake Browning was 19 for 22 for 255 yards and four touchdowns. He has no turnovers in three games.
Browning took a seat early in the third quarter after his 73-yard TD pass to Pettis on the second snap of the third quarter. Pettis had made a nice adjustment on his route to undercut a safety and haul in the deep pass, then ran into the end zone untouched.
Even without three injured offensive starters _ wide receivers Chico McClatcher and Andre Baccellia, and tight end Drew Sample _ the Huskies ran 34 plays in the first half and gained 282 yards, an average of 8.3 yards per play. (Both receivers were held out with relatively minor injuries, according to sources, and could be available against Colorado.)
Junior linebacker Tevis Bartlett had the first interception of his career _ a J.J. Watt-style play in which Bartlett leapt at the line of scrimmage and tipped the pass to himself, returning it 24 yards to the Fresno State 7. On the next play, Gaskin ran in for his second TD of the game.
Meanwhile, most of UW's starting defense was resting on the bench by the second quarter. Fresno State scored its first points on Chason Virgil's 6-yard TD pass to Da'Mari Scott with 2:59 left in the first half.
The Huskies answered with an 11-play, 75-yard drive, capped by Browning's 8-yard strike to Gaskin with nine seconds left in the half.
UW lost two fumbles in the third quarter, by Gaskin and backup QB K.J. Carta-Samuels, leading to two Fresno State field goals.
