Las Vegas Bowl Blowout: Washington routs Boise State

By Case Keefer (contact)

Published Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019 | 7:48 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019 | 9:18 p.m.

It’s tough to say what went better for Washington Saturday night in the Las Vegas Bowl — the end of one coaching tenure or the start of the next.

Washington bid coach Chris Petersen adieu after six seasons with an 38-7 victory over Boise State, but it was largely due to the work of Jimmy Lake, Petersen’s already-announced successor. As defensive coordinator, Lake presided over a Huskies’ unit that stifled the Broncos throughout the final scheduled game at Sam Boyd Stadium. He was so instrumental in the victory that Petersen waved him up on the stage postgame to assist in accepting the trophy.

“They’ll take the next step,” Petersen said of Washington under Lake’s watch. “He’ll figure out what he needs to do, tweak the offense. There’s a lot of firepower sitting there.”

That’s not to say the Huskies played poorly on offense in the Las Vegas Bowl; they were just outstanding on defense. Washington held Boise State to 266 total yards, maintained a shutout late into the third quarter and managed three takeaways.

Senior defensive back Myles Bryant and junior defensive back Elijah Molden picked off passes from Boise State freshman quarterback Hank Bachmeier to start a pair of scoring drives near the beginning of each half. Molden was named Las Vegas Bowl MVP after also forcing a fumble that was recovered by freshman Jackson Sirmon to end the game, racking up nine total tackles and contributing to constant pressure on Bachmeier.

“It was a pretty good incentive,” Molden said when asked about sending Petersen off with a victory. “Every game is important but some games are more important. We had a lot of weeks to let this one simmer.”

Offensively, junior quarterback Jacob Eason directed a balanced attack and finished with 210 yards on 22-for-32 passing. Eason’s only touchdown pass came on Washington’s first drive, when he followed Bryant’s interception by lasering a 17-yard scoring strike to senior receiver Andre Baccellia.

The Huskies began to heavily rely on their run game from there. Their next touchdown came when junior running back Salvon Ahmed shook a couple tacklers and tiptoed down the sideline for an 8-yard score early in the second quarter.

Boise State, meanwhile, couldn’t sniff the end zone for its first six drives. The Broncos had only 96 yards at halftime as Bachmeier struggled with linebackers like Edefaun Ulofoshio and Joe Tryon continually chasing him out of the pocket.

Washington didn’t record a sack, but rushed Bachmieier on nearly every passing attempt

“They’re good up front,” Boise State coach Bryan Harsin said. “We knew that coming in. That was going to be a challenge for us, and the back end as well. Nothing we threw all day was wide open. They were all contested.”

Much like they did when Bachmeier, and backup Chase Cord, went down with injuries during the season, the Broncos turned to senior quarterback Jaylon Henderson for a spark — and it worked for a moment.

Henderson led Boise State on an 11-play, 77-yard touchdown drive in a third-quarter possession, capped when he connected with freshman running back George Holani on a 10-yard shovel pass to make the score 24-7. But Washington forced Henderson into a three-and-out on his second drive, and then let Eason, Ahmed and freshman running back Richard Newton lead them down the field.

The Huskies scored out of the Wildcat formation when Newton took a direct snap and flung an 11-yard touchdown to wide-open sophomore receiver Terrell Bynum.

“They had a trick play go for a first down and we had a trick play go for a touchdown,” Petersen joked. “I was happy about that.”

Newton finished with a game-high 69 rushing yards on 15 carries, and had a rushing touchdown to go with his passing score.

Petersen became known for trick plays during an eight-year tenure at Boise State that included three Las Vegas Bowl victories.

“I was excited to come to the bowl game, but I was lukewarm on the opponent just because of all the people and the connections and things but it is what it is,” Petersen said. “I’m proud of all these people.”

Largely thanks to Petersen’s Broncos, the Mountain West has been the winningest conference in Las Vegas Bowl history, going 12-7 since aligning with the game in 1999 including prevailing in each of the last three before this year.

But the Mountain West is on its way out after the Las Vegas Bowl agreed to a new, rotating deal with the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference starting next year when the game moves to Allegiant Stadium. And the replaced league's affiliation ended with a whimper.

Boise State, this year's Mountain West champions, struggled to deal with the speed and athleticism of Washington from the opening drive. That’s a testament to Petersen, who’s recruited at a high level throughout his time at Washington.

Losing him hurts as his time in Seattle was an unmitigated success with two Pac-12 Conference championships and a College Football Playoff berth. But based on Saturday’s blowout, Washington might be poised to continue right where Petersen left off under Lake.

“You want to leave on an upward trend,” Petersen said. “I feel like we did.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.