SEATTLE —Barely 10 minutes in and the anxiety was already noticeable.
Washington was in a 10-0 hole against Syracuse, which came in as nearly a two-touchdown underdog. The Huskies’ vaunted offense had done nothing, while the Orange very easily could have held a 14-point lead.
The Huskies even noticed a little grumbling from their fans in the stands.
“I did for a second,” Washington receiver Devin Aguilar said. “We just had to give them what they wanted.”
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Washington woke from its early slumber thanks largely to wide receiver Jermaine Kearse. The Huskies junior caught a career best nine passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns and Washington raced past Syracuse 41-20 on Saturday night.
Kearse snagged a 5-yard TD pass from Jake Locker late in the first half to give the Huskies a 13-10 lead they never relinquished. But it was his two catch-and-run touchdowns during the third quarter that put the Orange away.
The first came on the first play of the second half, when Kearse took a short out route and turned it into a 57-yard touchdown and a 20-10 lead for Washington (1-1). Later in the quarter, Kearse took another short pass and raced 28 yards for his third TD of the game.
Kearse is the first Huskies receiver with three touchdown catches in a game since Reggie Williams did it in 2002.
“I just try and do the best with my opportunities. If there is an opportunity for me to make a play I’m going to try and make it,” said Kearse, who at the beginning of the 2009 season wasn’t even a starter for the Huskies.
Now, he’s Locker’s favorite target. On this night, Kearse was one of seven receivers to catch passes from Locker, who completed 22 of 33 throws for 289 yards and four touchdowns.
There was a little concern about Locker in the second half after he got hit and bruised his left, non-throwing hand. Locker had an ice pack on the hand after the game.
Syracuse (1-1), trying for its first 2-0 start in 11 seasons, got a 28-yard touchdown run from quarterback Ryan Nassib in the first quarter but couldn’t hold the early 10-0 lead.
Nassib added a 19-yard TD pass to Alec Lemon in the fourth quarter. He was 15 of 31 for 190 yards and an interception. Delone Carter rushed for 91 yards on 18 carries.
Syracuse coach Doug Marrone took responsibility for two moments when the Orange had an opportunity to add points but failed. Up 7-0 and driving, Marrone called for a reverse that was stopped for a 7-yard loss, and Syracuse settled for a field goal.
Then late in the second quarter, the Orange missed on an opportunity to pull even going into the half. With 7 seconds left, Marrone called for Nassib to throw to the end zone instead of trying a long field goal. Nassib was hit and fumbled on the play and the clock expired. Marrone threw his headset to the turf in anger as he headed to the locker room.
“Offensively we had some chances to really score and separate and we didn’t take advantage of it,” Marrone said. “If I manage the game well, I made some bad calls. … I was trying to get 14, get to 17, I was just trying to be aggressive.”
But the Orange defense simply couldn’t find a way to slow down Kearse. His catch-and-run to start the second half broke the game open, as he slipped behind a block, shed the tackle of linebacker Marquis Spruill and outran the rest of the Orange defense.
His 28-yard TD catch was much the same and gave Washington a 27-13 lead. Kearse took a quick screen from Locker, broke a pair of tackles and dashed to his third score.
Syracuse became so concerned it started double-covering Kearse as the third quarter wore on. By then Locker was looking to his other options, including Aguilar, who caught a 14-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.
Chris Polk added 117 yards rushing, including a 52-yard touchdown run in the fourth.
“We came out the second half and unlike last week we were able to move the ball and make plays and not put it on our defense to win the game,” Locker said.
Syracuse also didn’t help itself with turnovers. After Washington trimmed the Orange lead to 10-6 in the second quarter, Orange returner Prince-Tyson Gulley was hit from behind by Nate Fellner as he was going down and fumbled the ensuing kickoff. Washington kicker Erik Folk ended up in the scrum and came away with the ball.
Six plays later, Locker hit Kearse for the first time and the Huskies took the lead for good.
“We went out there, we got up on top real fast then started making mistakes,” Carter said. “We made a lot of mistakes and I felt like when we got comfortable, that’s when the mistakes started to come.”
