SEATTLE _ The stage is set for one of the greatest Apple Cup showdowns ever.
Jake Browning and the Washington Huskies rebounded from their only defeat of the season to pummel Arizona State, 44-18, Saturday night before 65,467 at Husky Stadium, giving Washington its first 10-win season since 2000.
The No. 7 Huskies (10-1, 7-1 Pac-12), now tied with No. 20 Washington State atop the Pac-12 North standings, have a short turnaround before their trip to Pullman for the Apple Cup on Friday. This one shapes up to be as big as any of the 108 previous meetings between the in-state rivals.
The winner will claim its first Pac-12 North title and advance to the Dec. 2 Pac-12 championship game in Santa Clara, Calif.
The Huskies, despite a slow start Saturday, had an easy tune-up against Arizona State (5-5, 2-6).
Browning bounced back from his worst game of the season in the defeat last week against USC to throw for 338 yards against Arizona State, and the Huskies' defense shut down the Sun Devils in its first outing without injured star linebacker Azeem Victor.
The question for the Huskies coming into these final two weeks of the regular season was _ without Victor and without their best pass rusher, Joe Mathis _ what would they do to get more pressure on the quarterback? The answer: blitz. A lot of blitzes.
The UW defense had six sacks of ASU quarterback Manny Wilkins in the first three quarters _ after the Huskies had just four total sacks in the previous four games. Junior Budda Baker had two sacks on safety blitzes in the first quarter _ after posting just 1{ sacks in the first 36 games of his UW career.
Counting those sacks, the Huskies limited the Sun Devils to a mere 7 yards rushing through three quarters _ and just 84 yards of total offense.
Senior cornerback Kevin King, in his final game at Husky Stadium, had the play of the game _ and perhaps the play of the year _ for the UW defense when he hauled in a one-handed interception early in the second quarter.
That came three plays after the Sun Devils' Koron Crump had his interception return for a touchdown negated by a block in the back penalty at the Washington 3-yard line. For a moment, it appeared ASU would take a 7-3 lead.
Instead, the penalty pushed ASU back to the UW 13-yard line _ and then King turned momentum dramatically.
Two plays after that, Browning threw a short pass to Chico McClatcher, who turned it into a 75-yard touchdown to give the Huskies a 10-0 lead with 13:08 left in the second quarter.
The Huskies were never threatened after that.
Browning overcame two early interceptions against the Pac-12 worst passing defense to throw two touchdown passes. His second was a beautiful 46-yard deep ball to Dante Pettis to make it 17-0.
Lavon Coleman added a 1-yard touchdown run with 16 seconds left in the half to give UW a 24-0 halftime lead.
Senior Cameron Van Winkle converted all three of his field-goal attempts, from 30, 22 and 24 yards.
Arizona State's Zane Gonzalez, FBS career leader in field goals made, converted a 50-yard kick late in the third quarter to end UW's shutout bid.
That cut UW's lead to 30-3.
The Sun Devils scored when Wilkins, on fourth down, threw a jump ball that Jay Jay Wilson caught between four UW defenders for an 18-yard score. ASU added a two-point conversion to get within 30-11 with 10:27 remaining in the game.
After UW recovered an onside kick, Myles Gaskin followed with a 45-yard touchdown run to push UW's lead to 37-11.
After Wilkens and Wilson connected on another touchdown, this one a 9-yarder, Keishawn Bierria returned the ASU onside kick 45 yards for the Huskies' final score.
