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NEW ORLEANS — Michael Penix Jr. arrived in Seattle two years ago hoping to revive his career. He’ll leave as a Huskies legend.

On the biggest stage of his career, Penix turned in his greatest performance, completing 29 of 38 passes for 430 yards as Washington‘s offense mostly dumbfounded Texas in a 37-31 win in the Allstate Sugar Bowl to advance to the College Football Playoff national championship game.

“[He made the] throws that we know he’s capable of,” Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said. “And with a good defense like we were facing in Texas today, he kind of resorted to all the tools that he has and the skill sets that make him special and make him, in my mind, the best player in college football.”

After finishing as the Heisman runner-up to LSU QB Jayden Daniels and leading the Huskies to the playoff, Penix had already secured a prominent place in UW lore, and now he has a chance to leave as perhaps the most revered figure in school history.

“I don’t know if you can transfer the Heisman Trophy or how that works, but man, he’s the best to do it in the nation, and I’ve known that for a long time,” said Washington receiver Rome Odunze, who finished with six catches for 125 yards. “Unfortunately, I feel like the media and everybody on the outside hasn’t paid close enough attention. He’s special and he’s fought through adversity, and here he is shining on the biggest stage.”

Against the Longhorns, Penix’s deep-ball accuracy and quick release were on display almost immediately. He hit Ja’Lynn Polk for a 77-yard strike on his first attempt of the game and, as he has all season, consistently found advantageous matchups the rest of the game.

When targeting the Huskies’ top three playmakers — Odunze, Jalen McMillan and Polk — Penix was 16-of-17 for 305 yards. Texas had no answer for the trio that made up arguably the most talented receiver corps in the country. Penix, who came into the game as the national leader in passing yards, eclipsed the 4,500-yard mark for the season to become the first FBS quarterback to achieve that in back-to-back seasons since Patrick Mahomes in 2015-16.

Penix was 7-of-10 for 257 yards when passing for 15-plus yards down the field and was also effective with his legs, running for 31 yards on three carries, picking up a pair of key first downs.

When Penix finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting, he shrugged it off, telling teammates he cared more the team success and what they still had to play for.

“As far as the Heisman thing, that’s over, man. It don’t matter,” Penix said. “Right now, man, we’re looking to win the national championship. That’s been my goal since Day 1.”

Those teammates, though, were less diplomatic about the result and viewed it as a slight toward the team as a whole.

“We were super disappointed,” Odunze said. “Honestly, that was probably one of the most disappointing things we’ve experienced in the season. Fortunately, no, we haven’t had a loss, so that was kind of our loss.”

In the two seasons that Penix has been with the program — coinciding with the arrival of coach Kalen DeBoer — the Huskies are 25-2 and own the longest winning streak in the FBS at 21 games. It’s a streak that hasn’t been without a number of close calls, with the win against Texas being no exception.

Washington wasn’t able to celebrate until Texas failed to connect in the end zone from 13 yards out on three straight plays to end the game.

A lot has been made about Washington’s curious status as a betting underdog in its past two games. First, against an Oregon team it had previously beaten. Then, Monday night, against a team that emerged from an inferior conference with a loss on its record. In both cases, not only did the Huskies keep their winning streak alive, they turned in convincing performances that left no doubt as to who was the better team.

“We’ve talked about it for sure,” UW linebacker Carson Bruener said. “Pac-12 championship, we were underdogs. We won the game. This game, we were underdogs, we won. I wouldn’t be surprised for the national championship if we’re going to be underdogs again.

“We’ll go out there and we use it as fire. We love it.”

Against top-ranked Michigan, which beat No. 4 Alabama in the other semifinal, the Huskies will, indeed, be underdogs again, as they opened as 4.5-point underdogs, according to ESPN BET.

In 1991, Washington’s path to the national title also went through Michigan. The Huskies beat the Wolverines 34-14 in the Rose Bowl to finish undefeated and ended the year ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll, while Miami was No. 1 in the AP poll. Washington and Michigan have played three times since, with Michigan owning a 3-1 advantage, including a 31-10 win in 2021.

The current Huskies are well versed on the ’91 team.

“We talk about the ’91 team all the time,” Odunze said. “They had a similar season to us in 1990, to our season last year. Didn’t quite make the national championship and then they had the slogan [in 1991], ‘Hungrier than ever.’ And that’s kind of been our mindset this year, and we’ve had that starving mindset to go and get it. We’re so close, but the job’s not done yet.”

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Keselowski: NASCAR rulebook like IRS tax code

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Keselowski: NASCAR rulebook like IRS tax code

LEBANON, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski said RFK Racing has made some small changes and talked about the “complexities” and team burdens under the NASCAR rulebook after an appeal reduced a penalty given to driver Chris Buescher and his team at Kansas Speedway.

Keselowski compared the NASCAR rulebook a bit to the IRS tax code during practice and qualifying Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway for Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400.

“You read this paper and then you got to reference this paper to reference this paper to reference this paper, and when your head’s down and digging and you’re running 38 weeks a year, oversights are going to happen,” Keselowski said.

The co-owner of RFK Racing said that’s not an excuse. Keselowski said the team changed some roles and responsibilities this week to help the team be “better prepared and more mindful of what it takes to to be in compliance.”

NASCAR penalized Buescher and his team May 15 for illegal modifications to the bumper of his No. 17 Ford at Kansas. The team was docked 60 driver points, 60 owner points, five driver playoff points and five owner playoff points for the level one violation. It also fined the team $75,000 and suspended crew chief Scott Graves from the next two races: the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.

Those penalties came three days after Buescher finished eighth at Kansas and dropped him from 12th to 24th in the Cup Series point standings.

RFK Racing appealed and had a partial win Wednesday with the appeals panel ruling the team violated the rule on the front bumper cover but not the exhaust cover panel.

Buescher got back 30 points, moving him to 16th in the Cup Series points standing. That’s a slot below the playoff cutline and six points behind RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece.

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Thousands attend race event honoring Gaudreaus

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Thousands attend race event honoring Gaudreaus

SEWELL, N.J. — A few days after brothers John and Matthew Gaudreau died when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding, family friends were visiting parents Guy and Jane at their home during a rainstorm. Looking outside after the skies cleared, they saw a double rainbow that brought them some momentary peace.

Since then, Jane Gaudreau had not gotten any signs she attributed to her sons, so she sat in their room Friday and asked them for some divine intervention to clear out bad weather in time for an event to honor their legacies. After a brief scare of a tornado watch the night before, a rainbow appeared Saturday morning about an hour before the sun came out for the inaugural Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day.

“I was so relieved,” Jane said. “I was like, ‘Well, there’s my sign.'”

Thousands attended the event at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey, a place John and Matthew went hundreds of times as kids and around the corner from Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing hockey. Roughly 1,100 people took part in a walk or run in person, along with more than 1,300 virtually in the U.S., Canada and around the world.

“I think it speaks to them as a family, how close they were and how everybody loved being around them,” said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, one of a handful of NHL players who were close to the Gaudreaus and made a point to be there. “You just see the support from this community and from other players as well that are here and traveled in. It just says a lot about Johnny, Matty, their legacy and this family as a whole, how much support they have because they’re such amazing people.”

Along with honoring the NHL star known as “Johnny Hockey” and his younger brother who family and friends called Matty, the goal of the event was to raise money for an accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School where Jane and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause John and Matthew had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.

It became their mother’s project after their deaths.

“Jane works every day with children with disabilities, and she knew how important it was for the playground to be built,” said family friend Deb Vasutoro, who came up with the idea for a 5K. “The playground has been a project for, I think, four or five years, and there just never was enough funding. When the boys passed and Jane needed a purpose, she thought, ‘Let’s build the playground.’ It was the perfect marriage of doing something good to honor the boys and seeing children laugh and smile.”

The Rev. Allain Caparas from Gloucester Catholic High School, which the brothers attended and played hockey for while growing up in Carneys Point, said raising funds for the playground is an extension of the impact they had on the community.

“They’re continuing to make a difference in the lives of so many others,” Caparas said. “Johnny and Matthew lived their lives with purpose, and now we’re celebrating that.”

Social media filled with mentions from folks in Columbus and Calgary, the NHL cities in which John Gaudreau played, and as far away as Ireland and Sweden. Paul O’Connor, who has been tight with the Gaudreau family from son Dalton being childhood best friends with Matthew, couldn’t empty out his inbox because he kept getting notifications about signups and donations.

“It just keeps growing,” O’Connor said. “And people that couldn’t be here, they’re doing a virtual [5K]. If they can’t do either, they’re just throwing money at the cause.”

Tears welled up in the eyes of Guy and Jane as they talked about the event. His speech to the crowd was brief and poignant at the same time.

“I’d like to thank everybody for coming,” Guy said after running the 5K. “It really means a lot to Jane and the girls and the family. We miss the boys, and it really means a lot for us to have you here to honor my boys. Thank you.”

The sea of people first in the rain and then the sunshine included folks in gear from all across hockey. Tkachuk wore a “Johnny Hockey” hoodie with Gaudreau’s name and No. 13 on the back.

He handed sticks, collected from various vigils in late August and early September, to race winners along with fellow players Erik Gudbranson, Zach Aston-Reese, Tony DeAngelo and Buddy Robinson.

“Our family wouldn’t have missed this,” Gudbranson said after flying in Friday night following a trip to Walt Disney World. “Hockey’s a very tight community. It’s still a tragedy. We miss the boys.”

The aim is to hold the event annually moving forward, potentially in Calgary and Columbus.

“We thought this was such a good thing to honor the boys we want to keep it up,” Jane said. “I just think each year it’ll just get better and better.”

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Panthers’ Lundell, Luostarinen clear for Final G1

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Panthers' Lundell, Luostarinen clear for Final G1

Florida Panthers forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell will be ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night in Edmonton, coach Paul Maurice said Saturday.

Both players were injured in Wednesday’s series-clinching Game 5 win against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Panthers forward A.J. Greer‘s status for the series opener against the Oilers remains uncertain. He missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and was on the ice for only 4:22 in Game 5 due to a lower-body injury.

All three players did not participate in Saturday’s practice, the first team skate since the defending champions booked their spot in the Final rematch.

“I think the only question mark is Greer,” Maurice said. “We will list him as day to day. The other guys are fine. They will be back on the ice tomorrow when we do a little bit of an optional.”

Luostarinen, 26, recorded 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 80 games during the regular season and 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 17 games this postseason.

Lundell, 23, tallied 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 79 games in the regular season and 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 17 playoff games.

Greer, 28, posted 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) in 81 games in the regular season and three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 12 playoff contests.

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