SEATTLE – No pregame flexing from Chris Petersen ahead of his second Pac-12 Championship Game appearance since coming to Washington after the 2013 season.
Back in September UW defeated Utah 21-7 at Rice-Eccles Stadium to open conference play. Fast forward to Friday and the two schools meet again. For Petersen it marks the first time he’s faced the same opponent twice in one season.
On offense, sophomore tight end Hunter Bryant has given UW another legitimate down-field thread in the passing game. Senior Myles Gaskin also has regained his Pac-12 record-setting form in November scoring five rushing touchdowns and totaling 100-plus yards in all three games this month.
Different from last Friday’s annual Apple Cup game, a 28-15 victory for the No. 11 Huskies over Washington State, the Utes have found a ground game to counter Gaskin and Co.
Junior RB Armand Shyne and freshman quarterback Jason Shelley have combined for six rushing touchdowns in November with another junior, Zach Moss, missing the last three games due to injury.
“They’re similar,” Petersen said of the replacement duo for the Utes in Shyne and Shelley. “I mean those other guys, more experienced. Those are they guys they’ve had for a long time, but these guys like I said, they’ve done a nice job of recruiting to their system.”
He added, “Certainly they are way different on offense. They got their running game going and they’re taking their shots.”
The two programs boast the two best scoring defenses in the conference. UW is the higher ranked unit at No. 8 nationally allowing 16.5 points per game. Utah has the No. 17 ranked scoring defense allowing 19.3 PPG.
One side, one unit will have to falter.
Petersen did not offer an update on left tackle Jared Hilbers. Senior tackle Trey Adams, who replace Hilbers for the final three quarters vs WSU last Friday, is “building stamina and making progress”.
UW has fill the role of protecting senior QB Jake Browning’s blindside with both Adams and Hilbers, along with redshirt freshman Henry Bainivalu and junior Henry Roberts. Petersen also did not offer an update on running back Kamari Pleasant who hasn’t played the last two weeks against Oregon State and WSU.
