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    Home » QB Browning off to an historic start for Huskies
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    QB Browning off to an historic start for Huskies

    Steve RudmanBy Steve RudmanOctober 21, 2016Updated:October 20, 20161 Comment4 Mins Read
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    Jake Browning is off to the fastest start by a quarterback in UW history. / Drew Sellers, Sportspress Northwest

    At the six-week mark of the 2011 University of Washington football season, Husky fans found themselves in awe of sophomore quarterback Keith Price’s passing spectacle. After opening the season as Jake Locker’s raw replacement by tossing three touchdown passes in a closer-than-expected win (30-27) over Eastern Washington, Price went on an historic — at least by UW standards — rampage.

    He threw four TDs in a 40-32 win against Hawaii and four the following week in a 51-38 shootout loss at Nebraska. After three more against California and another three against Utah in the fourth and fifth weeks of the season, Price came back with four more in a 52-24 romp over Colorado.

    With that, Price became the first quarterback in Washington history to produce a trio of four-TD games in a single season — and he had started six contests. At that point, Price had 21 touchdown passes, the fourth-highest single-season total in UW history.

    Of all the remarkable numbers Price produced through his first six games as Washington’s quarterback, the most impressive was that 21 of his 122 throws went for touchdowns, a 12.35 TD percentage. The top single-season mark in school history was 9.12 percent by Brock Huard in 1997, and the best after that was 7.52 by Billy Joe Hobert in the co-national championship year of 1991.

    Price didn’t finish 2011 with quite the same flourish he started it with, tossing 10 TDs over his final seven contests. Still, his 33 TD passes shattered the school record of 28 by Cody Pickett in 2002, and his 9.11 TD percentage fell just shy of Huard’s 9.12 in 1997.

    Four years later, another sophomore, Jake Browning, is threatening to grind Price’s 2011 burst into pulp. Price’s first six that year vs. Browning’s first six this season:

    Keith Price, 2011

    Opponent W-L Yards TDs Skinny
    E. Wash. W 30-27 102 3 Completed 17 of 25 wearing knee brace
    Hawaii W 40-32 315 4 Two TDs went to WR Jermaine Kearse
    at Nebraska L 51-38 274 3 Two more TDs (38, 8 yards) to Kearse
    California W 31-23 292 3 Two TDs to TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins
    at Utah W 31-14 226 3 Completed 18 of 30 with one INT
    Colorado W 52-24 257 4 Hit on 21 of 28 with no interceptions
    Total 5-1-0 1,466 21

    Jake Browning, 2016

    Opponent W-L Yards TDs Skinny
    Rutgers W 48-13 287 3 TDs of 38, 50 yards to WR John Ross
    Idaho W 59-14 294 5 2 TDs to Dante Pettis, 2 to Ross
    Portland St. W 41-3 163 4 Completed 12 of 19 with no INTs
    at Arizona W 35-28 160 2 Also ran for a three-yard touchdown
    Stanford W 44-6 210 3 Completed 15 of 21 with no INTs
    at Oregon W 70-21 304 6 Set UW mark with 6 TDs, ran for a TD
    Total 6-0-0 1,418 23

    Browning, who has matched Price’s mark with three, 4-TD games in a season, has been responsible for 156 points (23 passing TDs, 3 rushing), the eighth-highest single-season total in UW history with six games remaining. His 26 per game, if it holds, will wipe out Price’s 16.6 mark in 2011 (Mark Brunell ranks No. 3 at 14.8 in 1990).

    “We want him to keep playing like he’s been playing,” coach Chris Petersen told reporters Thursday when asked to compare Browning to other quarterbacks his age (20). “I think the really good players all have poise and mental ability, and Jake’s got that.”

    Browning has 144 passes this season and completed 104, 72.2 percent (the UW record is 69.9 by Price in 2011). Twenty-three have gone for touchdowns, or 15.97 percent.

    The Huskies have featured numerous quarterbacks  — most notably Warren Moon, Chris Chandler, Hugh Millen, Brunell and Damon Huard — who went on to lengthy NFL careers, but none came close to throwing 15.97 percent of their Huskies passes for touchdowns, as Browning is doing:

    Year Player TD Pct. Skinny
    2016 Jake Browning 15.97% 23 TD passes among his 144 throws
    1997 Brock Huard 9.12% 25 touchdowns in 274 attempts
    2011 Keith Price 9.11% 33 touchdowns in 362 attempts
    1991 Billy Joe Hobert 7.52% 24 touchdowns in his 319 attempts
    1973 Chris Rowland 6.41% 5 of 15 TD passes came against Cal
    1950 Don Heinrich 6.33% Made 221 throws, tallied 14 touchdowns
    1986 Chris Chandler 6.29% 20 touchdowns in 318 pass attempts

    Browning makes his next assault on the UW record book Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks) when the No. 5-ranked Huskies host Oregon State, a 36-point underdog.

     

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    1 Comment

    1. jafabian on October 21, 2016 12:26 pm

      Great comparison with Jake’s stats to Price’s as sophomores. That season was like magic for Price and had me thinking he’d be fun to follow when he turned pro. Still rooting for him for when that day hopefully comes. Can’t wait to see Jake get a taste of the bowl season.

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