Jacob Eason returned to his hometown program to win big games and the former five-star delivered his biggest ‘W’ yet for No. 22 Washington on Saturday in a sizzling performance that resulted in a 45-19 win over BYU in Provo.
The quarterback was nearly perfect on a picture-perfect day in the Beehive State, throwing for 290 yards and a trio of impressive touchdowns. Showing off an NFL-caliber arm on many of those throws, Eason had only five incompletions against a pretty solid defense and his second half interception only came off a deflection in his most complete performance yet under Chris Petersen.
The Huskies kind of needed the outing too in bouncing back from a disappointing loss to Cal and hitting the road for the first time in 2019 without starting tailback Savon Ahmed with a leg injury. Sean McGrew (97 yards) and Richard Newton (80 yards, 1 TD) filled in admirably but Washington took to the air for most of their offense. Aaron Fuller also stood out with his play, recording eight catches for 91 yards and a score to go along with weaving 88 yard punt return in the third quarter that all but turned the game into a rout.
All told, Washington punted just once all game long and that didn’t come until the 4th quarter.
The effort was not exactly what Kalani Sitake was hoping for in BYU’s third game against the Pac-12 so far this season. The Cougars turned the ball over twice and failed to muster much in terms of sustained drives during the second half as things got away from them a week after a wild comeback against USC on the same field. Zach Wilson was under duress most of the afternoon in throwing for 277 yards, a touchdown and a pick.
All things considered though, the program probably has to be okay with coming out of the hardest opening stretch in the country at 2-2 even if the bookends of the first four weeks of the season were a little rough on the eyes.
Washington, meanwhile, will return to Seattle to face off against a USC squad brimming with confidence in their own bounce-back win against a team from Utah. The Huskies will do so with plenty of confidence themselves given the way their quarterback played in his first road as that conference clash with suddenly huge implications takes place next Saturday in the friendly confines of Husky Stadium.