UW On Verge Of Unprecedented Scoring Stat

Considering that the University of Washington football team is averaging 34.0 points per game through its first five contests (4-1-0), and that Saturday’s opponent, Colorado, is yielding 33.3 through its first six (1-5-0), it’s not too tough to assume the Huskies have a pretty good shot at dropping at least 30 more on the Buffaloes.

If UW can do that, Steve Sarkisian’s team would become the first in the 121-year history of the program to score 30 or more points in the first six games of a season.

Only two other Washington teams managed to average 30 a game through the first five. But neither Enoch Bagshaw’s 1924 Huskies, coming off a 14-14 tie with Navy in that year’s Rose Bowl, nor Don James’ co-national champions of 1991, could stretch the 30-point streak to six.

Bagshaw’s 1924 team, led by All-American George Wilson, recorded four shutouts in its first five games, outscoring its opponents by the absurd margin of 229-7. In three of those laughers — vs. Willamette (57-0), Whitman (55-0) and Montana (52-7) — the Huskies tallied at least 50 points.

That streak of 30-point games ended on Oct. 25, when the Huskies managed just six points in a 6-3 victory over Oregon State at Husky Stadium.

Oddly, after averaging 45.8 points per game through their first five, the 1924 Huskies failed to score more than two touchdowns in a game in four of their final five. The exception: a 96-0 romp over College of Puget Sound on Nov. 15, the largest rout of a season in which Bagshaw’s boys averaged 35.5 points in outscoring 10 opponents 355-24.

Bagshaw’s 1925 Huskies were actually better than the 1924 team, averaging a school-record 39.1 points in going 11-0-1. That team scored 30 or more in its first four contests — 108-0 over Willamette, 59-0 over U.S.S. Oklahoma, 56-0 over West Seattle A.C. and 30-10 over Montana — but a 6-6 tie with Nebraska in UW’s first-ever game east of the Rocky Mountains snapped the 30-point streak (following the 6-6 tie with the Cornhuskers, the Huskies defeated Whitman 64-2).

(Between 1923-25, Washington twice led the nation in scoring, averaging 33 points per game, and had outbursts of 50 or more points six times and 60 or more five times, with a single-game high of 108 in 1925. During that span, the Huskies averaged 34.2 points per game and allowed just 4.1.)

As with Bagshaw’s 1925 team, which outscored its 12 opponents 461-39, James’ 1991 Huskies also scored 461 points. In the 1991 team’s first five, UW scored 50 or more twice (56-3 win over Kansas State, 54-0 win over Arizona), 40 or more twice (42-7 over Stanford and 48-0 over Toledo) and averaged 47.2.

The 1991 team’s 30-point streak came to an end on Oct. 19 at California, when the Huskies put up “only” 24 points in a 24-17 win over the Bears. The seven-point margin of victory was Washington’s smallest of the season.

Sarkisian’s 2011 Huskies haven’t ruptured the scoreboard in the manner of the 1924 (or 1925) or 1991 Huskies, but their average of 33.3 points per game is the highest since James’ co-national champions 20 years ago.

In fact, as the chart shows, Sarkisian’s Huskies compare favorably after five games with all UW teams that either played in a bowl game or finished a season ranked nationally by the Associated Press.

Most Points, First 5 Games, By A UW Bowl (Or Ranked) Team

Washington’s 1991 co-national champions finished that season ranked No. 1 in the coaches’ poll and No. 2 by Associated Press. The 1984 team that defeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl finished No. 2 in the AP poll behind Brigham Young. Washington’s 1982 team, which had a run of seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the AP poll, finished No. 7 after defeating Maryland 21-20 in the Aloha Bowl.

The 2000 Huskies, the last UW team to finish in the AP top 10, scored 144 points in their first five games, an average of 28.8 per game.

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