In Chris Petersen’s final game at Washington, the Huskies blew out his former team Boise State, 38-7, in the Las Vegas Bowl.
“Well a lot of good people. Yeah a lot of good people. That’s all you can say,” Petersen said about both Boise State fans and Washington fans chanting his name at the end of the game.
And for many who thought this would be an emotional week for Chris Petersen, it turns out it really wasn’t.
“No I think when we go to practice it’s all good. When I talk to the team sometimes I can get a little bit emotional,” Petersen said. “But in terms of being on the field and practicing and all that, that’s just what we do.”
Washington came out with an energy they failed to duplicate for much of the season. The Huskies harassed Boise State quarterback Hank Bachmeier all night. Washington intercepted Bachmeier twice. Myles Bryant’s interception on BSU’s first drive set up UW at their own 48-yard line. Jacob Eason led the Huskies on a 12-play drive that was capped off with a 17-yard TD pass to Andre Baccellia to give UW a 7-0 lead.
After taking a 17-0 lead into the halftime, the Huskies added to the lead after an Elijah Molden interception set up the Huskies inside the Boise State 24-yard line. A few plays later, Richard Newton scored on a 2-yard TD that gave Washington a 24-0 lead.
With 10:22 remaining in the third quarter Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin made the decision to pull Bachmeier and put in Jaylon Henderson. Henderson would lead the Broncos on a scoring drive in his first series but that was all the points they could muster.
And with the Huskies looking to put the Broncos away for good, they turned to some old Petersen magic. Running back Richard Newton lined up in the Wildcat on third down and five, rolled to his right, and found Terrell Bynum for a 13-yard TD to put the Huskies up 30-7.
“I was really happy. They got one trick play for a first down, we got one for a touchdown,” Petersen said jokingly after the game.
Jacob Eason completed 22-of-32 passes for 210 yards and one TD. Richard Newton rushed for 69 yards and accounted for two touchdowns. Salvon Ahmed added two touchdowns of his own.
And even though Petersen didn’t want this game to be about him, it was on his players minds entering the game.
“Every game is important but some games are a little more important,” Las Vegas Bowl MVP Elijah Molden said about the lead up to Petersen’s last game.”We had a lot of weeks to kind of let this simmer and the we went out there and played well.”
Petersen ends his tenure at Washington with a 55-26 record. Under coach Petersen, the Huskies won two conference titles, made the College Football Playoff in 2016, and appeared in three New Years Six Bowls.
