5 things to know about Ohio State’s Rose Bowl opponent: Washington

Ohio State and Washington are no strangers to the Rose Bowl.

The Buckeyes and Huskies have each played 14 times in the Granddaddy of Them All. When they jointly make their 15th bowl trip to Pasadena on Jan. 1, they will tie Stanford for No. 3 on the bowl’s all-time appearance list, behind only USC (34) and Michigan (20).

It might come as a surprise, then, that this is the first OSU-U Dub matchup in the Rose Bowl. In fact this is the first time that these teams will square off in any bowl game. The teams have met 11 times in the regular season, most recently in 2007; Ohio State leads the series 8-3.

Here are 5 things to know about this season’s Pac-12 champions, the Washington Huskies:

Browning’s records

Washington quarterback Jake Browning has set quite a few records in his four seasons as starter. He’s the only Huskies quarterback to defeat Apple Cup rival Washington State four times and he holds the Pac-12 record for victories by a quarterback. He owns school records for career passing yards (11,796) and passing touchdowns (94). Browning has led his team to three consecutive major bowls.

Gaskin is Mr. Consistent

Another four-year senior starter for the Huskies, running back Myles Gaskin, has some impressive credentials just like Browning. Gaskin has rushed for at least 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons. With 5,131 career rushing yards he is 18th on the NCAA’s career list and holds the school record. The senior also has the Huskies record for career rushing touchdowns with 55 and is tied for 23rd all-time on that NCAA list.

Petersen finishing turnaround

Washington is accustomed to being among the Pac-12’s elite (or Pac-10 or Pac-8 back in the day). But not long ago the program was in the doldrums. In the early 2000s Washington went seven straight seasons without going to a bowl, bottoming out with an 0-12 season in 2008, which saw Tyrone Willingham exit as coach. Steve Sarkisian’s reign brought the Huskies back toward respectability, but Chris Petersen, wrapping up his fifth season as coach, has truly brought glory back to Seattle. This is Washington’s third straight 10-win season and second Pac-12 title in three years. And now the Huskies are back in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 2000. Petersen is 139-32 (winning percentage .813) as a head coach in FBS; among active coaches with more than two years of experience, only Urban Meyer (.853) has a higher percentage.

Defense to be reckoned with

This will be the matchup worth watching: Ohio State’s high-scoring offense against Washington’s stingy defense. The Huskies have not allowed more than 30 points in any game this season. Six times they have allowed fewer than two touchdowns and in four games they held their opponent to single digits, including Friday’s 10-3 victory over Utah in the conference title game. Washington is fifth in the country in scoring defense, giving up 15.5 points per game. UW also ranks in the nation’s top 20 in rushing, passing and total defense.

A gentleman and a scholar

UW senior linebacker Ben Burr-Kiven was named the Pac-12 football scholar-athlete of the year last week. Burr-Kiven has been a CoSIDA District 8 Academic All-America pick three times and the comparative literature (cinema studies) major carries a 3.69 GPA. On the field, Burr-Kiven led the nation in the regular season with 165 tackles.

Jim Tomlin

Longtime newspaper veteran Jim Tomlin is a writer and editor for saturdaytradition.com and saturdaydownsouth.com.