On a night when he became the leading career receiver for tight ends in Washington history, Austin Seferian-Jenkins also showed he can play a little defense.

But he said there's still a lot of room for improvement.

After playing about eight or nine snaps of defensive end, Seferian-Jenkins said he would give himself a "D" grade, saying everything needs to get better.

Seferian-Jenkins was used at defensive end primarily in third-and-long situations, due in part to some injury issues up front.

UW coach Steve Sarkisian said it was the point of the season "where all hands are on deck" and the team needed Seferian-Jenkins to play some at end.

Seferian-Jenkins said he was approached a few weeks ago about the possibility and has worked at times at that spot in practice. He said he hopes it's not just a one-game experiment, saying he hopes to keep playing end.

"On offense you can't really hold, so defense you can hold," he said, adding, "I want to get a sack."

Seferian-Jenkins proved his usual matchup nightmare on offense and finished with seven catches for a team-high 99 yards.

In the process, he passed Mark Breuner as the school's all-time leader in receptions for a tight end with 96 — Breuner had 95 from 1991-94. He has 55 receptions for 729 yards this season, also UW records.

"I didn't know about any of that going into the game," he said.

And Seferian-Jenkins, who also played basketball last season, said not to worry that all the activity might prove too much to handle.

"Not at all," he said. "It's what my body was made for."

Sankey tops 1,000

Sophomore running back Bishop Sankey gained 162 yards on a career-high 36 carries and has 1,017 for the season, becoming the 10th player in UW history to top the 1,000-yard mark. It is the 16th time in Husky history a running back has topped 1,000.

The milestone capped a meteoric rise for Sankey, who entered the season likely to share duties with junior Jesse Callier. When Callier suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first game, however, Sankey had to take over the main duties, and after a few rough moments has come on — this was his fifth 100-yard game of the season.

Sarkisian admitted that if he'd been told in the summer that Sankey would rush for 1,000 yards this season he'd have thought, "How's that going to happen? But now that we've had a chance to watch him, he's a stud."

Timu is OK

There was a scary moment in the third quarter when UW linebacker John Timu was injured and lay on the field for roughly three minutes, a golf cart quickly coming onto the field.

Timu, though, then got up and walked off the field, and returned to the game.

Sarkisian said Timu had suffered a stinger, and after being checked out by medical staff was allowed to return to the game.

Timu had a big game with nine tackles, one to help stop a Utah fourth-down attempt early in the third quarter, as well as an interception that stopped a deep Utes drive in the first half and set up a UW touchdown.

Last game

at the Clink

Saturday night's game against Utah was the last for the Huskies at CenturyLink Field — they will finish this season with two games on the road and then move back to a newly-renovated Husky Stadium for the 2013 season.

UW was 5-1 this season at CenturyLink, losing only to USC 24-14.

Huskies coach Steve Sarkisian said this week that "it's been a good experience" ... (but) "quite honestly, we can't wait to get back to Husky Stadium because it's our home."

Seniors honored

With it being the last home game of the season, the Huskies honored 11 seniors on Senior Day.

That group included five players who are left from the last full recruiting class of Tyrone Willingham — receiver Cody Bruns, center Drew Schaefer, safety Justin Glenn and defensive backs Adam Long and Anthony Gobern. Others honored were linebacker Nate Fellner, fullbacks Cole Sager and Jonathan Amosa, defensive tackle Semisi Tokolahi, defensive end Talia Crichton and cornerback Desmond Trufant.

Fellner, who had not been with the team the last two weeks, was back in his jersey on the sideline but not in uniform.

Note

Linebacker Princeton Fuimaono, who had started the previous two games in place of Travis Feeney, did not play. It was uncertain what the issue was with Fuimaono.

Also out were defensive lineman Pio Vatuvei, who also left the Cal game with an injury, and running back Erich Wilson II.