BOULDER — Back in the day, when plenty of Colorado football fans thought he’d look really good in black and gold.
Turns out Miles dresses out just fine in Washington purple and gold.
Miles shook off a few jittery moments Saturday afternoon to lead the Huskies to a 38-23 victory over the Buffs at Folsom Field. He completed 13-of-19 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns.
“It was really important for me to play well,” the sophomore said. “It was real special, because I grew up going to CU games. So to come onto this field as a player was like a dream come true.
“But at the same time, I tried to calm my mind before the game and tried to do my job.”
Miles executed some beautiful plays, including a perfectly timed option pitch to Shaq Thompson that resulted in a 24-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. With 5:38 left in the third quarter, Miles gave his Huskies a 24-23 lead on a perfectly-executed play-action, 28-yard TD pass to Dante Pettis.
It wasn’t all pretty. He mishandled several snaps, including one on Washington’s second possession of the game. Deep in CU territory, he dropped the ball while in the shotgun formation. Colorado’s Kenneth Olugbode smothered the fumble at the CU 12.
“I think (Miles) did a good job,” Washington coach Chris Petersen said. “I’m not sure why he was fumbling the snaps. I don’t know if he was putting too much on himself to make things happen fast, but that was very frustrating for us. I know it was frustrating for him.”
A week after suffering a concussion, Miles did not play in Washington’s 24-10 loss to No. 14 Arizona State last Saturday at Husky Stadium. Redshirt freshman Troy Williams made his first career start, but Miles was back under center against the Buffs.
The Huskies (6-3, 2-3 in the Pac-12) are 5-2 in Miles’ starts this season. In those seven games, the UW offense has averaged 27.6 points per game. Miles had gone 173 consecutive passes without an interception until throwing his first at No. 9 Oregon two weeks ago. Overall this season, he has completed 66.5 percent of his passes (117-for-176) for 1,2049 yards with 12 touchdowns and just one interception.
“I thought I did some good things,” Miles said after Saturday’s game while friends and family eavesdropped on his interview outside the visitors’ locker room at Folsom Field. “I thought I definitely needed to take care of the ball. I thought I did a decent job, but I have a lot of work on ball security.”
