Heisman or not, Michael Penix Jr. cemented his legacy in the CFP semifinal
-
Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
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.”
-
Greg Wyshynski
NHL teams don’t necessarily need a goaltender that can drag them to the Stanley Cup, mostly because those types of netminders are unicorns. What they need is a goalie that can make a save at a critical time; and, perhaps most of all, not lose a game for the team in front of them.
As the NHL playoff picture comes into focus, so does the quality of every team’s most important position. Will their goaltending be the foundation for a playoff berth and postseason run? Or is it the fatal flaw in their designs on the Stanley Cup?
The NHL Bubble Watch is our monthly check-in on the Stanley Cup playoff races using playoff probabilities and points projections from Stathletes for all 32 teams. This month, we’re also giving each contending team a playoff quality goaltending rating based on the classic Consumer Reports review standards: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.
We also reveal which teams shouldn’t worry about any of this because they’re lottery-bound already.
But first, a look at the projected playoff bracket:
Ohio State‘s 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in Monday night’s College Football Playoff National Championship game was the most-watched game of the season. However, it was a double-digit drop in viewers from last year.
ESPN announced Wednesday that the Buckeyes’ second national championship in the CFP era averaged 22.1 million viewers. It was the most-watched, non-NFL sporting event over the past year, but a 12% drop from the 25 million who tuned in for Michigan’s 34-13 victory over Washington in 2024.
It was the third-lowest audience of the 11 CFP title games, with all three occurring in the past five years. The audience peaked at 26.1 million viewers during the second quarter (8:30 to 8:45 p.m. ET) when the score was tied at 7.
Since Alabama’s 26-23 overtime victory over Georgia in 2018, the past seven title games have had an average margin of victory of 25.4 points. Ohio State had a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter before Notre Dame rallied to get within one possession with five minutes remaining in the fourth.
Georgia’s 65-7 rout of TCU in 2023 was the least-viewed title game (17.2 million) followed by Alabama’s 52-24 win over Ohio State in 2021 (18.7 million). The first title game in 2015 — the Buckeyes’ 42-20 victory over Oregon — remains the most-watched college football game by viewers in the CFP era, according to Nielsen at 33.9 million.
This was the first year of the 12-team field. The first round averaged 10.6 million viewers with the quarterfinals at 16.9 million. The semifinals averaged 19.2 million, a 17% decline from last year. Both semifinal games in 2024 though were played on Jan. 1. Michigan’s OT victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl drew a bigger audience (27.7 million) than the Wolverines’ win in the title game.
CFP games ended up being nine of the 10 most-viewed this season. Georgia’s OT win over Texas in the SEC championship on ABC/ESPN was sixth at 16.6 million.
-
Ben Baby
CINCINNATI — A familiar face is headed back to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden is expected to join the Bengals in the same role, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Wednesday. The news comes two days after the Fighting Irish lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
Golden, 55, spent the past three seasons as Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator. He replaces Lou Anarumo, who held the post for the past six seasons before he was fired after the Bengals missed the postseason.
This will be Golden’s second stint on Zac Taylor’s coaching staff. Before taking the job at Notre Dame, he was Cincinnati’s linebackers coach during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. During those years, Golden played an integral role in leading a defense that helped the Bengals reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.
The Fighting Irish’s defense was a major reason why Notre Dame was a win away from its first national championship since 1988. Entering the CFP final against the Buckeyes, Notre Dame’s defense ranked fourth among Power 4 teams in points allowed per drive (1.21), according to ESPN Research.
He will be tasked with leading a Bengals defense that looks vastly different from just a couple of years ago. Staples from that Super Bowl team, including safety Jessie Bates III and defensive tackle DJ Reader, departed in free agency in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Last season, Anarumo was tasked with balancing a group that featured aging veterans, injuries at key positions and inexperience at others.
Eventually, the defense figured things out during the Bengals’ five-game winning streak to close the regular season. But with Cincinnati missing the postseason for a second straight year, Taylor opted for a staff shake-up. Along with Anarumo, offensive line coach Frank Pollack and defensive line coach Marion Hobby were among those who were not retained.
On Monday, Cincinnati announced Scott Peters as Pollack’s replacement and Michael McCarthy as the assistant offensive line coach. Later in the day, Anarumo was hired as the Indianapolis Colts’ defensive coordinator.
The Bengals will need to improve a unit that finished near the bottom of the league in several key categories. Last season, Cincinnati was 26th in points allowed per drive, 30th in defensive red zone efficiency and 30th in first downs allowed per game, according to ESPN Research.
Cincinnati is trying to build around star quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase as the team looks to end a two-year playoff drought. Burrow was named to his second Pro Bowl following a career year. Chase made his fourth Pro Bowl in as many NFL seasons and joined defensive end Trey Hendrickson as the team’s first All-Pro selections since 2015.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports10 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway