Penix-led Huskies again ‘prove everybody wrong’
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Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer
NEW ORLEANS — Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. turned in one of the most dominant performances in College Football Playoff history on Monday night. Yet there he stood on the sideline with one second remaining on the clock, watching as Texas stood 13 yards away from completing an improbable comeback.
Quinn Ewers took the fourth-down snap and threw the ball into the corner of the end zone for Adonai Mitchell. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Ewers threw to Mitchell at nearly the same spot for a 1-yard score. Washington’s Elijah Jackson was on the coverage for that touchdown.
He was on the coverage again with the game on the line. Jackson said he knew Ewers would look to Mitchell again. The cornerback was ready this time. Jackson leaped into the air to bat the ball away as time expired, sealing a wild 37-31 win for the Huskies in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Now, Washington will play Michigan in the CFP national title game on Jan. 8 in Houston for the Huskies’ first national championship opportunity since 1991. All Jackson could think after he made the play was, “Dang, we’re going to the national championship!” Then he went to find his mom in the stands.
“That’s the moment people dream of,” Jackson said. “Everybody wants the last play. Everybody wants the game on their shoulders.”
Though Penix threw for 430 yards — the fourth-best passing game in CFP history — Washington could never quite get complete control. Texas made it a one-score game twice in the final seven minutes as it attempted to erase a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit. After closing to 37-31 with 1:09 remaining, Texas attempted an onside kick, but Washington recovered.
After forcing a three-and-out, Texas got the ball back with 45 seconds left and the ball at its 31-yard line. Texas had four attempts to win the game from inside the Huskies’ 15-yard line. But Washington would prevail for its 21st consecutive victory.
“You love seeing a team come through and find a way to win,” Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer said. “The defense had to stay out there and play every down until the very end. So proud of the resiliency and finding another way to win a football game.”
When it was all said and done, Penix was 29-of-38 passing for 430 yards and two touchdowns. As a result, he became the first player with multiple 4,500-yard passing seasons in Pac-12 history.
The decision Penix made to come to Washington in 2022 has helped change the trajectory of the Huskies’ football program. But that all started with the hiring of DeBoer, an offensive mastermind who won three NAIA championships as head coach at the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota before working his way up the FBS ranks and landing at Washington.
One of DeBoer’s first phone calls after taking the job was to Penix, whom he had coached for one season as offensive coordinator at Indiana. Penix wanted to play for DeBoer, noting his comfort level, trust and belief in him not only as a coach but an offensive innovator. In their two years together, they have won 25 of 27 games and are on the precipice of accomplishing something much greater.
“He set the tone pretty quickly, just made all the throws,” DeBoer said. “This guy really all month was on another level as far as his mission to make sure that this happened, and I think you saw it all week in practice. There was just nothing he was going to let slide by where we would leave a doubt that we were going to find a way to win.”
The program has been more than just Penix, of course. While DeBoer has done an excellent job using the transfer portal, he also has nine sixth-year players who started their careers at Washington under a different coaching staff but were willing to buy in and believe in his message too.
There are other veteran seniors too, including wide receiver Rome Odunze and linebacker Bralen Trice, who have taken the lead in helping establish the culture DeBoer wanted to instill.
Despite everything this team has accomplished this season, Washington went into its semifinal against the Longhorns as the underdog — the second straight game where it was not favored to win. That irked the Huskies to the point where they used it as extra motivation.
Not long after the Huskies prevailed, they were already installed as underdogs … again. The Wolverines opened as 5-point favorites at sportsbook ESPN BET with the over/under total at 55.5.
“I just think we prove everybody wrong time and time again, and we’ll continue to do that,” Trice said. “You can overlook us all you want, but we go out there and we prove everybody wrong every time.”
Penix, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, took center stage from the start — dropping one pin-point pass after another to his deep and talented receiver group. There was a 77-yarder to Ja’Lynn Polk on the opening drive. Then a deep pass over the middle to Odunze. It went on like this the entire game, some beautiful rainbows, others darts — all of them landing where only his receivers could catch them.
Polk and Odunze each had 100 yard receiving games as a result. By the time the third quarter had ended, Penix had 372 yards passing, 2 touchdowns and just 4 incompletions as the Washington fans chanted, “Let’s go, Huskies!”
“I got the best playmakers on the outside. So they make it easy,” Penix said.
Though Washington threatened to blow the game open after going up 34-21 early in the fourth quarter, Texas hung around and its defense stepped up to keep the Longhorns in the game. After Jaydon Blue fumbled, Washington could not take advantage and was forced to punt.
On the ensuing drive, Ewers threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell, a transfer from Georgia, to make it 34-28. Mitchell is automatic in the CFP — with a touchdown reception in all five CFP games in which he has played.
“That’s the moment people dream of. Everybody wants the last play. Everybody wants the game on their shoulders.”
Washington CB Elijah Jackson
On the next possession, Penix did what was needed to move Washington down the field — including a 32-yard pass to Odunze down the left sideline that was enough to get into field goal range and make it a two-score game before Texas attempted one last comeback.
“The resiliency our team showed in that fourth quarter to find a way to have an opportunity to win the game, I think, is indicative of the character that we have on this team and the men that we have in that locker room,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “Those guys are fighters. These fought together. As bleak as it looked there, they never gave up hope and they believed. And I think that’s how you give yourself a chance at the end.”
Ewers said on the final two plays — both passes — he was “just looking to give my guys an opportunity to go make a play. At the end of the day, that’s all you can really do.”
Ewers finished 24-of-43 for 318 yards and a score. Afterward, the emotions on his face were clear as he fought back tears when he entered the postgame news conference.
“It’s tough, especially losing a close game like this,” Ewers said. “But when you take a step back and you look back at the entire season, I’m proud of the way that we attacked each week. I know the whole team is beyond grateful for this opportunity that we had today, and I think we all played our hearts out.”
Texas just came up one play short. Instead, the spotlight belonged to Penix and the Huskies.
“The job’s not finished,” Penix said. “I feel like it’s definitely going to take more. I’m going to push myself to get this team more next week. And, man, we’re just super excited for the opportunity.”
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Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer
Inspirational thought of the week:
“Honestly, when we lose, I don’t even get in the shower until early this morning. I’ll just be mad. I just brush my teeth. It’s like, I don’t deserve soap.”
— Syracuse head coach Fran Brown
Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, located behind the “sorry, not sorry” bouquet of water hemlocks sent to the Big 12 officiating office from Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, we know all too well the sting of losing football games. We see it every week in every game we watch.
Yeah, yeah, we know what you’re thinking. “Come on, dummy, someone loses every game that anyone watches.” That’s true. At least now it is. We are also old enough to remember when games ended in ties. That was way worse.
But here in the Bottom 10 Cinematic Universe, losses are worse because that’s all you experience. You’d think we’d get used to it, numb from the pain like when you keep accidentally biting that same spot on your tongue to the point that it just becomes sensory free. But instead, it’s like Bruce Banner explained about being the Hulk: “You see, I don’t get a suit of armor. I’m exposed. Like a nerve. It’s a nightmare.”
However, as we learned in “Age of Ultron,” even after one of his worst losses, Bruce Banner does take a shower. So, Coach Brown, take it from us, in a world where every team has a helluva lot more losses than Syracuse … dude, wash up. Seriously. We can smell you from here. And we’re in Kent, Ohio.
With apologies to Mr. Clean, former Miami (Ohio) quarterback Mike Bath, former Southern Illinois running back Wash Henry and Steve Harvey, here are the post-Week 11 Bottom 10 rankings.
The Golden(plated) Flashes are still America’s last winless FBS team, losing their 18th straight game when they were edged by Ohio 41-0. Now they travel to My Hammy of Ohio, where they are given a 2.8% chance to win by the ESPN Analytics Ouija board, er, I mean Matchup Predictor. But honestly, that game will only be the appetizer ahead of the, yes, Week 13 main course that is the Wagon Wheel showdown with Akronmonious. And by appetizer we mean way-past-the-expiration-date freezer-burned mini-pizza bagels.
The New Owls not only used their talons to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at UTEP, losing in double overtime, they earned Bottom 10 Bonus Points for firing their head coach — and during their first year as an FBS team, no less. Though the AD issued a statement that Brian Bohannon had “stepped down,” Bohannon himself responded on social media: “Contrary to what’s been reported, I want to be clear that I did not step down.” But there is no confusion as to whether the Owls have stepped up or down in these rankings, where every move up is also a move down.
Brett Favre Funding U. lost to We Are Marshall 37-3, meaning all eight of their defeats this season have been by double digits. In related news, I also received double digit political texts on Election Day — and one of those was from Favre. No, for real. I wonder, did he cover the data charges himself or did he steal change from the donation jar at his grocery store checkout?
Sometimes in this life we are asked to do things that go against the fiber of our being. Like taking your daughter to the concert of an artist you’ve never heard of. Or me having to use Earth’s most annoying instrument, the leaf blower. This weekend this team of Minutemen will be asked to try to defeat Liberty.
5. The Sunshine State
The Coveted Fifth Spot has never been more crowded. The FBS, FCS and NFL teams of Florida posted a 1-11 record over the weekend, salvaged only by the Miami Dolphins’ win over the Los Angeles Rams on “Monday Night Football.” UC(not S)F, US(not C)F, FA(not I)U, Stetson, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman all lost, led in misery by the Wildcats’ five-overtime loss to Southern. The Flori-duh Gate Doors celebrated the announced retaining of coach Billy Napier by losing to Texas in a squeaker 49-17. And My Hammy of Florida finally spotted an opponent a lead too large for a Cam Ward comeback and took its first loss of the season, falling to unranked Georgia Tech. If only someone else in the state could relate to that …
The Semi-No’s are continuing to work around the Coveted Fifth Spot by earning their Bottom 10 keep the old-fashioned way, not only losing to semi/sorta/kinda ACC member Notre Dame by a scant 52-3, but also earning a pile of their own Bottom 10 Bonus Points not by firing head coach Mike Norvell, but because Norvell fired both his offensive and defensive coordinators and a wide receivers coach. In related news, over the weekend a friend of mine steered his bass boat into a giant pile of sharp rocks and reacted by throwing his shirt and hat overboard.
It was three weekends ago that the Buttermakers lost to then-second-ranked Oregon 35-0. On Saturday, they lost to then-second-ranked Ohio State 45-0. Now they play sixth-ranked Penn State, and in two weeks end their season playing currently eighth-ranked Indiana. We have to assume that a team of professors from Purdue’s legendary mechanical engineering department is studying this experience as a way to assess the stress put on a school bus that is attempting to drive over a lava field covered in landmines.
The Minors have a weekend off to continue their post-Kennesaw victory party. And what’s the best way to snap yourself out of a two-week hangover? Hair of the dog? A cold bucket of water over the head? How about the hair of a coontick hound and a bucket of water from the river during a Week 13 trip to Neyland Stadium to play Tennessee?
Whatever is left of UTEP after Knoxville will then play whatever is left of the Other Aggies after their Week 12 trip to face the OG Aggies of Texas A&M. If there’s any justice in this world, then the loser and/or winner of that Aggie Bowl would go on to play …
The Other Other Aggies lost to the one-loss team the nation forgot about, Warshington State. But if you consider the week before that, we find a Bottom 10 conundrum. Utah State beat WhyOMGing? but the week before that lost to Whew Mexico by five points. Meanwhile, Wyoming, who lost to Utah State two weeks ago, spent last weekend beating New Mexico by five points. Perhaps we will be given some clarity when Wyoming ends the year at Washington State. Or perhaps we will have already given up. As so many here in the Bottom 10 seem to do.
Waiting list: Miss Sus Hippie State, Georgia State Not Southern, FA(not I)U, Akronmonious, Meh-dle Tennessee, WhyOMGing?, Temple of Doom, Living on Tulsa Time, You A Bee?, Standfird, people who put all those election signs up but now won’t take them down.
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