Huskies Piled Up More Yards Against Michigan State Than Anyone Else
EAST LANSING, Michigan — The Washington football not only handed Michigan State a 34-point defeat, it punished the Spartans defense more than anyone else in the Big Ten school's history, piling up a record 713 yards of total offense.
The previous record of yards allowed by the Spartans was 666 compiled by Nebraska in 1995.
The Huskies scored on seven of 12 offensive drives as the home team once more had no answer for quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who did whatever he wanted for the third time at Spartan Stadium, twice previously with Indiana.
Overall, counting a fourth game in Seattle, Penix completed 109 of 197 passes for 1,476 yards and 13 touchdowns against the Spartans.
Record Setting Offensive Showcase
The Huskies fell 21 yards shy of matching their all-time single-game mark of 734 yards in total offense, set in 1996 against San Jose State.
Following Saturday's game, junior wide receiver Rome Odunze amazingly even intimated that the UW should have had an ever greater total.
"[There'] still some stuff left on the bone, still some drives that we didn't score on," Odunze said. "We had a good day, but definitely want to improve on it, for sure."
Odunze finished with a career-high 180 receiving yards on eight catches against MSU, marking his third consecutive 100-yard game.
Coupled with sophomore wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk's 118 receiving yards, the duo marked the Huskies' fifth dual 100-yard game under DeBoer's lead and the third this season.
Prior to last season, the UW had just six outings in which two receivers topped the 100-yard mark in the same game.
Another Clean Game Up Front
With sixth-year senior center Matteo Mele out against Michigan State, redshirt freshman right guard Parker Brailsford proved he's more than capable of starting wherever the coaching staff needs him.
Brailsford opened in place of Mele at center with juniors Julius Buelow and Nate Kalepo the first-teamers at left guard and right guard, respectively.
"I thought they did a really good job," DeBoer said of the reshuffled offensive line. "It was our best game running the football. ... Parker has taken a lot of snaps there, so we had full confidence that he could move from guard to center and make the calls and get everything directed."
Aside from the odd play when MSU was able to hit Penix as he threw the ball, UW didn't allow a sack for the second consecutive game.
The lone sack of Penix occurred on the first drive of the season opener against Boise State, which DeBoer said was caused by a receiver running the wrong route.
Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.
Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.
Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12
Follow Lars Hanson of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @LarsHanson or @UWFanNation
Have a question? Message me on Twitter!
