GAME SNAPSHOT
KICKOFF: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET
SITE: Husky Stadium, Seattle
TV: Pac-12 Networks
SERIES: Washington leads Oregon State 64-24-4 and has won six in a row.
RANKINGS: Washington No. 18
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Beavers
–RB Jermar Jefferson recorded his sixth 100-yard rushing performance in the loss to Stanford, the most for an OSU player since Jacquizz Rodgers had seven 100-yard games in 2009. Another 53 yards and the he will break the school record for a true freshman.
–WR Trevon Bradford had 120 receiving yards against Stanford, the third different Beaver to top 100 yards in a game this season. The junior leads the team with six touchdown catches.
–LB Hamilcar Rashed Jr. recorded 1.5 tackles for loss last week, giving him 10.5 for the season. The sophomore is on pace to have the highest TFL tally for a Beaver since Scott Crichton had 19 in 2013.
–K Jordan Choukair is now 8 of 14 on field goals after going 1 for 2 against Stanford. His 28-yard miss in the second half marked the 11th time this season OSU failed to score when reaching the red zone.
Huskies
–RB Myles Gaskin missed games on Oct. 20 and Oct. 27 against Colorado and Cal, but surged back into the lineup with 148 yards on a healthy 5.3-yards per carry clip Nov. 3 against Stanford. He faces an Oregon State defense that gave up season-highs in rushing to USC’s Aca’Cedric Ware, Arizona’s J.J. Taylor and Arizona State’s Eno Benjamin.
–QB Jake Browning makes his farewell start at Husky Stadium on Saturday. While Browning’s individual statistics have gone through ups and downs, his four years as Washington’s QB have produced 36 wins and a Pac-12 championship, with a shot at another.
–LB Tevis Bartlett’s production has picked up in the latter half of the season, beginning with a 12-tackle performance Oct. 13 at Oregon. Bartlett has made 32 of his 62 tackles in the last four games, and his increased productivity will be key in Washington slowing down Oregon State RB Jermar Jefferson.
KEYS
TO THE GAME
Saturday marks Senior Day at Husky Stadium, when the home crowd bids farewell to upperclassmen who transformed No. 18-ranked Washington from an also-ran in the Pac-12 Conference into a program with realistic championship aspirations.
And while the audience says goodbye to some familiar faces when the Huskies (7-3, 5-2 Pac-12) host Oregon State, it will also welcome back another person responsible for the program’s turnaround.
This week is the homecoming for Jonathan Smith, the first-year Beavers head coach who served as offensive coordinator at Washington the previous four seasons.
Smith ran an offense that improved its points-per-game production each of his first three seasons. Beginning in his second season, 2015, Smith rolled with a lineup that bears a similarity to his first Oregon State bunch, reliant heavily on youngsters.
“We’ve got a bunch of individual examples of guys who played their first year of (college) football,” Smith said. “At the beginning, they were pretty young, and new at it. They’ve really improved in their techniques, and understanding the game.”
The Beavers (2-8, 1-6) have endured struggles in Smith’s first season. His time at Washington reveals the potential payoff once his vision’s implemented.
Two of the young Huskies who thrived in Smith’s offense are quarterback Jake Browning and running back Myles Gaskin. Starters as true freshman, both play their final game at Husky Stadium in the hunt to finish in the top three of various Pac-12 career records.
Gaskin is ranked fifth in rushing yards with 4,826. He should leave Washington after the next three games — possibly four, if the Huskies reach the Pac-12 Championship Game — the conference’s third leading rusher in history.
Browning sits sixth in passing yardage (11,347) and passing touchdowns (91). A top four finish in either category is within reach.
For the veteran duo to reach this point — and Washington to be in the hunt for a second Pac-12 North title in three seasons — was a process not without growing pains. Browning said this past offseason that Smith was instrumental in navigating the quarterback through his maturation.
“There were times he’d make a play call, but he’d give me that credit,” Browning said. “That’s kind of unique in a business where, if he takes that credit, maybe not as many people are calling for him to get fired my freshman year.”
Despite the record, Oregon State showed glimmers of promise in Smith’s first season. Much of it, the coach said, is behind-the-scenes.
“There’s been a lot (of progress), and a lot of it is on the day to day, not just in the games on Saturday,” he said. “We’ve grown in regard to how we practice, the detail it takes.”
On game days, the most apparent example of Oregon State’s progress, and hope for the future, comes from freshman running back Jermar Jefferson. The 5-foot-10, 210-pound Jefferson led the Pac-12 in rushing yards for much of the first two months. He has accrued 1,201 yards heading into the final two games — just 101 fewer than Gaskin gained in 13 games as a freshman operating in Smith’s offense.
Gaskin rushed for more than 1,300 yards in each of his three seasons with Smith. Because of an injury that sidelined him for two games last month, Gaskin will need to average 177 yards in the next three games to reach that milestone for a fourth straight season.
His season high is 148 yards, which he gained in the Nov. 3 win over Stanford.
Although another 1,300-plus-yard campaign appears unlikely, Gaskin nears the end of his Washington career leaving an indelible mark on the program, along with his fellow seniors.
“Those guys have been spectacular. They’ve been here a long time, and been through a lot of things, and they’ve done a great job with everything they’ve been about,” Washington coach Chris Petersen said. “Extremely proud of those guys. They’ve been a blast to coach. They’re the kind of guys who make coaching really enjoyable.”
