For Huskies, there were plenty of senior moments in beating Oregon State
Jordan Miller doesn’t linger on the field after games. Typically, as soon as the band stops playing, he’s heading through the tunnel as quickly as he can.
Saturday was different.
Miller stopped short, turned, took a long look around Husky Stadium as the last fans worked their way toward the exits. Fellow senior and defensive back JoJo McIntosh was with him, taking just a moment after UW’s 42-23 victory over Oregon State to soak it all in.
It was important, Miller said, that they were together.
“Me and JoJo, we’ve been through it all,” he said. “From freshmen, not really playing that much, messing up and getting yelled out in meetings to now. It’s been a journey.”
Miller said later he planned to return to the field once more before he headed home for the night.
It took until Saturday morning — waiting in the cold for the bus to take UW from the hotel to the stadium — for the significance of the day to really sink in. That’s when the lasts started hitting him: the last time staying at the Marriott before a home game, the last time warming up. And then, finally, the last time celebrating a victory with the student section in the end zone.
“It’s emotional,” Miller said.
While Miller was standing near the tunnel, senior running back Myles Gaskin was taking pictures with the sideline crew.
At midfield, quarterback Jake Browning stopped to talk with former UW offensive coordinator and current Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith. Then he ran over to the stands, climbed onto the railing and gave his 6-year-old sister, Ella, a celebratory kiss on the top of her head.
“She doesn’t understand football at all,” Browning said. “The only thing she knows is who won and who lost. That’s pretty much it. She just asked me if we won and I said, ‘Yeah.’”
Afterward, Gaskin and Browning found each other. They walked toward the sideline, arms draped over each other’s shoulders. And then they ran through the tunnel, the last two players to leave, to the cheers of fans hanging over the edge.
The seniors improved their career record to 37-14 on Saturday, and they were all over the stat sheet. Browning finished 17-of-23 for 242 yards and three touchdowns. Gaskin rushed for 135 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries. Defensively, linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven had 11 tackles.
“I was fine,” Burr-Kirven said of senior day. “I think I’ll be more emotional playing our last game rather than this one. It was incredible. It was awesome we get to run out there and have the fans cheer for us and have our family out there so it was pretty special.”
While Burr-Kirven was able to keep his emotions in check, head coach Chris Petersen didn’t fare as well. He said he was doing well addressing the team on Friday night until he looked at Browning and started talking about his career.
The speech ended pretty quickly after that.
“There’s nobody you spend more time with in this office,” Petersen said, “just preparing since the second he got here. It’s just exactly how it’s supposed to be. He’s a rare individual in terms of never flinching, always the same, always prepping as hard as he possibly can.
“It’s hard to do for anybody let alone a college kid that’s going through this process. Really special. It’s awesome to watch him do that for these four years.”
The victory was the 37th of Browning’s career, making him the Pac-12’s all-time winningest quarterback.
The first quarter couldn’t have gone any better for UW. The Huskies scored on each of their first four possessions and only allowed a field goal to take a 28-3 lead into the second quarter.
Gaskin rushed for 101 yards on his first three carries, including a 64-yard run on UW’s third offensive play that set up a 4-yard touchdown run from sophomore Salvon Ahmed.
The Huskies then scored on another Ahmed 4-yard run, a 17-yard pass from Browning to Aaron Fuller an a 21-yard pass from Browning to Cade Otton. They finished the first quarter with 252 total offensive yards.
“I’d like to start like that every first quarter,” said Petersen. “They were clicking and kind of set the tone for the game. We knew Oregon State was going to keep battling. They’ve done that with every team they’ve played.”
UW led 35-16 at the half as Oregon State added a touchdown and two field goals. The Huskies were never really threatened, but they did allow the Beavers to rack up 363 offensive yards. And despite the fast start, UW scored just a single touchdown after the break.
“Never frustrating,” Ahmed said of up-and-down performance, “but just knowing we have to pick it up as a team.”
The victory improved the Huskies’ home-winning streak to 14 games, which is tied for the second longest in the country. That’s been a point of emphasis for UW, especially the seniors.
“The simplest thing to do in college football is to protect your house,” Burr-Kirven said. “That’s where you have to start every year. That’s something we talk about. We know we want to protect this place and never lose here. It’s special.”
Said Miller: “As a team we stressed that during the offseason. We leave our blood, sweat and tears in the offseason every day, every workout we do. We’re not going to lose here. If anything, we’re not going to lose at home. It’s really important to us. We talk about that every day.”
Now, the Huskies will head back out on the road to face Washington State. The Apple Cup has a particular importance this season with the winner advancing to the Pac-12 championship game.
It will be a quick turnaround for both teams to get ready for the Friday evening matchup.
“All these games are so important to us,” Petersen said. “The kids know what we’re playing for and all that. They put their heart and soul, the coaches put their heart and soul into every single game.
“We’ll just continue to prepare as we always have. We got to continue to play as well as we’ve played all year to do this.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2018 at 5:34 PM with the headline "For Huskies, there were plenty of senior moments in beating Oregon State."
