Chris Polk accumulated 189 yards rushing, Keith Price threw three touchdowns and the Husky defense caused five turnovers in Washington's 31-14 victory over the Utah Utes at Rice Elles Stadium in Salt Lake City.
Jermaine Kearse, Devin Aguilar and Kasen Williams all caught touchdown passes from Price in the second half, who played Saturday's game limping on his left leg. Price is now second in the country with 17 touchdowns to Baylor's quarterback Robert Griffin III who has 18 touchdowns through five games.
The Huskies got on the board in the first nine seconds of the game after redshirt freshman Jamaal Kearse picked up a forced fumble on the opening kickoff and took it 17 yards to the house giving the Huskies a 7-0 lead. Sophomore Garrett Gilliard laid a punishing hit on Utah's Ryan Lacy that ended up popping the ball out of Lacy's hands.
Washington (4-1, 2-0) only led 10-7 at halftime, but thanks to the performance of Chris Polk and an injury to Jordan Wynn in the second half, the Huskies were able to cruise to victory over the Utes. Wynn left the game with a left shoulder injury in the third quarter. Utah (2-2, 0-2) was outscored 21-0 by Washington in the second half and could not get anything going offensively.
Polk's 189 yards gave him his fifteenth 100 yard game as a Husky and tied him with Greg Lewis for second on the all-time Washington Huskies list of career 100-yard rushing games.
The junior running back set up several red zone opportunities in the second half for the Huskies, including a 49-yard run in the third quarter that eventually led to a Price to Kasen Williams touchdown.
Price, despite his fragile left knee, went 22 for 30 and passed for 226 yards with one interception. The sophomore quarterback will be looking forward to the upcoming bye week to fully recover and be one hundred percent when the Huskies face Colorado at home in two weeks.
Washington's secondary which has received a lot of criticism so far this season, responded with two interceptions and several key stops to hold the Utes to only 14 points.
Freshman safety Sean Parker intercepted Wynn in the Huskies red zone in the first half and sophomore Gregory Ducre intercepted Utes backup quarterback Jon Hayes in the second half.