Tale of the tape: Washington 69, Oregon State 27
FROM CORVALLIS -- Reporters and photographers scrambled to file last-minute updates from the media work room in the basement of Gill Coliseum here on Saturday night.
No more than 20 feet away, behind a door that made a rather poor sound barrier, the Washington Huskies went nuts.
Steve Sarkisian's voice pierced the air by itself, shouting rallying cries to his gathered players, nearly all of whom got on the field during UW's 69-27 dismantling of Oregon State.
Sarkisian yelled. The group responded with shouts of their own. Another yell. More shouts back. Then it was the stereo's turn, rap music blaring and rattling the walls, a party befitting the destruction the Huskies visited upon the Beavers on Saturday night.
The numbers explain the jubilation: 692 yards of offense. 530 rushing yards. Three players with 141 rushing yards or more. Forty-eight consecutive points to start the game.
And those 69 points. According to the Oregonian, OSU has never allowed more.
"It was loads of fun," said Bishop Sankey, who carried 23 times for 179 yards and three touchdowns. "Just everybody getting their chance to play and everybody taking advantage of it. It was cool.
"We just wanted to come out here and let loose, lay it all out there, play within ourselves and have fun while we were doing it. I feel like that's really what we did tonight."
On to the capsule ...
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME -- Take your pick. Sankey, Deontae Cooper (11 carries, 166 yards) and Dwayne Washington (11 carries, 141 yards) had room whenever they were handed the ball. There were times in the second half that OSU's defense looked almost reluctant to try to tackle UW's ballcarriers, and that resulted in runs of 48, 68, 70 and 71 yards.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE GAME -- Marcus Peters was as dominant as anyone on the field for the Huskies. He intercepted two passes, forced a fumble and recovered it himself. He also had six tackles and was credited with three pass-breakups. Hau'oli Kikaha had a sack and also had several pressures of OSU quarterback Sean Mannion.
PLAY OF THE GAME -- Again, take your pick. Was it Cooper's 68-yard run? His 70-yard run? Washington's 71-yard touchdown? Sankey's school career record-tying 34th rushing touchdown? Or the 28-yard touchdown pass from Cyler Miles to Kevin Smith that gave UW a 27-0 lead heading into halftime?
STAT OF THE GAME -- Mentioned most of the more pertinent ones above, but those 530 yards rushing are worth repeating. That's the second-highest single game total in UW history, and it's only 29 yards short of the school record of 559 set against San Jose State in 1996.
QUOTABLE -- "I know they’re excited about the win, but they’re also ready to get going on the Apple Cup. That taste is not out of our mouths, believe me. We’ve got a short week. We’ve got to get going on getting prepared for WashingtonState. It’s a big game." -- Sarkisian on Friday's regular-season finale against Washington State
WHAT IT MEANS -- Probably quite a bit. Lots of questions surfaced this season about UW's inability to win on the road, and rightfully so. It had been more than a year since the last time the Huskies won a Pac-12 road game, and it had been a decade since they'd won at Reser Stadium. But all that frustration seemed to come pouring out in the first quarter, the Huskies scoring 17 points before OSU even gained a first down and only piling on from there. At 7-4, UW still has a chance to win eight regular-season games for the first time since 2001, and has a chance to earn consideration for a better bowl than most assumed, say, eight days ago.
NEXT UP -- Washington vs. Washington State (6-5, 4-4) at 12:30 p.m., Friday at Husky Stadium. That game will air on FOX.
Christian Caple can be reached at christian.caple@thenewstribune.com. Twitter: @ChristianCaple
This story was originally published November 23, 2013 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Tale of the tape: Washington 69, Oregon State 27."