Pettis, No. 6 Washington clobber Fresno State 48-16

SEATTLE — Dante Pettis can now call himself the NCAA’s best.

And the Washington Huskies turned in an overall performance that suggests they can consider putting themselves into that conversation as well.

Pettis tied the NCAA record for career punt-return touchdowns, and the sixth-ranked Huskies looked like a team capable of making another run at a College Football Playoff berth, clobbering the Fresno State Bulldogs 48-16 Saturday evening at Husky Stadium in a game that was nowhere near as competitive as the final score indicated.

Pettis went 77 yards for his punt-return touchdown, which gave Washington a 27-0 lead a mere 9 minutes, 49 seconds into the game. Not only did it give the senior wide receiver eight career punt-return touchdowns, matching the NCAA record shared by Texas Tech’s Wes Welker and Oklahoma’s Antonio Perkins, it put a cherry on top of a first-quarter blitz reminiscent of the Washington team that reached college football’s final four last year.

Pettis did a little bit of everything, also catching three touchdown passes and even completing a 36-yarder on a double pass on Washington’s first offensive play of the game. He was nearly matched by Myles Gaskin, as the junior running back from Lynnwood found the end zone three times himself — two on the ground and one through the air. Both Pettis and Gaskin did all their scoring in the first 32 minutes of the game, and they played a big part in quarterback Jake Browning finishing an efficient 19-for-22 for 255 yards and four TDs. The Huskies’ starters were long gone by the time Fresno State started gaining traction in the third quarter.

The nature of Saturday’s victory continued Washington’s upward trajectory as the Huskies (3-0) head into Pac-12 play beginning next Saturday at Colorado. The Huskies looked far from a contender in their opener two weeks ago at Rutgers, when they couldn’t shake the unheralded Scarlet Knights until the fourth quarter. But they got back on track with last week’s 63-7 victory over FCS Montana, and Washington carried that over against FBS competition Saturday. Granted, it came against a Fresno State team that was 1-11 last year. But the Bulldogs (1-2) played at top-ranked Alabama last week and only lost 41-10.

The Huskies opened up a bigger lead than Alabama’s in the first half alone as they scored touchdowns on five of their six offensive possessions, including the first four. It all began with Gaskin as he took a fly sweep left, got around the edge and leaped into the end zone for a 28-yard score, giving Washington a 7-0 lead just 4:12 into the game.

Then came an irresistible three minutes that emphasized the gulf existing between the two teams. After a Fresno State three-and-out, Washington raced down the field in a drive that culminated with Browning lofting a ball into the left corner that Pettis went up for and grabbed for a 4-yard touchdown. Fresno State’s next possession lasted only one play as Tevis Bartlett’s interception set the Huskies up first-and-goal from the 7, and on the next play Gaskin took a direct snap up the middle for a TD. Then after another short Bulldogs possession Pettis fielded the punt at the 23, made a quick cut to find a lane moving forward, broke outside to the left, high-stepped out of a tackle, and raced 77 yards for his record-tying return TD, which made it 27-0.

The Huskies called off the dogs early as the second-string defense was inserted late in the second quarter, and Fresno State took advantage with Chason Virgil hitting Da’Mari Scott for a 6-yard touchdown to get the Bulldogs on the board.

But Washington kept its offensive starters in the game, and they answered first with Browning threading an 8-yard touchdown pass to Gaskin with 9 seconds remaining in the first half, then with Browning going deep to find Pettis for a 73-yard bomb on the second play of the second half, stretching the lead to 48-7 and rendering the remainder of the game academic.