Huskies Win Heart of Dallas Bowl

When you talk about this season's University of Washington Huskies football team, you have to say "true freshman" a lot.

First of all, there's Jake Browning, their true freshman quarterback, the first true freshman to start the first game of any Husky season.

Then you have to talk about Myles Gaskin, the true freshman running back who today in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, rushed for 181 yards and four touchdowns. That helped lead the Huskies to a 44-31 win over the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles.

The Dawgs finish their season with a 7-6 record, having won their last two regular season games to earn bowl eligibility.

Browning just got better and better all season. In his first game of the season, a close loss to a ranked Boise State, Browning looked like a freshman. But things seemed to turn around with the upset win over USC. We didn't win all of our games after that, but Browning played much better. He did miss the Stanford game with an injury, which we lost but it could have been worse.

While Browning continued to mature, Gaskin came into his own as a running back. In the Heart of Dallas Bowl, he showed his skill with an 86-yard play from scrimmage that went for a touchdown.

With all these true freshmen (and Browning and Gaskin are only two of many), the Huskies will mature, get better, and be a force in the PAC-12, possibly as quickly as next season but most definitely in 2017. After 15 years of lack-luster play and mediocre coaching, it will be a very nice change.

Go Dawgs!