NEW ORLEANS — When it was finally over at the Superdome, when No. 2 Washington had held on to beat No. 3 Texas, 37-31, in the Sugar Bowl, a bit of fruit hung so low that it damn near scraped the floor: By advancing to next Monday’s College Football Playoff national championship game in Houston, Washington made sure the game would double as a preview of the Big Ten’s future, the Huskies set to face No. 1 Michigan for the title.
Thank realignment and Michael Penix Jr.
Penix, the Huskies’ super senior quarterback, finished a stunning 29 for 38 for 430 yards and two touchdowns. After an unlikely sequence of events, Texas drove to the Washington 13-yard line for the final play of the game, but its throw to the end zone as time expired was knocked incomplete. Penix and the Huskies had done enough for a 14-0 record, for a chance at the perfect ending to a perfect season.
Through two quarters, the score was tied 21-21 because of Penix’s arm and Quinn Ewers’s legs. For Washington, Penix fit passes into windows big and shrinking, throwing for 255 yards by halftime, completing 11 of his 14 attempts. For Texas, Ewers was 9 for 18 on his way to 24 for 43, his accuracy much more shaky. But he ran when he had to — when Washington’s defense offered the opportunity — and ripped off a 21-yard scramble to set up the Longhorns’ third score with a minute left in the second.
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The whole beginning promised a shootout until the end. Texas, only slowed by six first-half penalties, gashed the Huskies on the ground. Penix couldn’t miss deep, countering Texas’s pass rush with quick feet and even quicker decision-making. Then, 4:30 into the third quarter, Penix pushed the Huskies ahead 28-21 with a 19-yard dart to Jalen McMillan over the middle. Then Washington’s defense recovered a fumble, setting up another well-placed throw from Penix, which set up a 26-yard field goal to pad the lead.
Every time a pass left Penix’s left hand, Texas’s margin for error got smaller and smaller. And in the end, after the Longhorns lost a second fumble, they trailed by 13 points with 11 minutes left. They cut it to six with 7:23 remaining. But Penix brought the Huskies right back down the field, setting up a chip-shot field goal that helped them weather the major scare in the final minute. Nothing is ever easy at this time of year. — Jesse Dougherty
Continue reading for highlights and analysis from Monday’s second semifinal.
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