Washington booked a ticket to play Michigan for the national championship with a 37-31 victory in the Allstate Sugar Bowl over Texas on Monday.
Both offenses came out blazing in the first half. Each team found the end zone once in the first quarter and twice in the second, with Huskies running back Dillon Johnson punching his way into the end zone twice and three different Texas running backs finding paydirt.
Despite the emphasis on each team’s running game near the goal line, the Huskies relied on quarterback Michael Penix Jr., and the Maxwell Award winner delivered. The senior quarterback threw lasers all over the field on Monday night. On the Huskies’ third play of the game, he wound up and dropped a perfect teardrop to Ja’Lynn Polk for a 77-yard gain.
He led another touchdown drive two possessions later with two 20-yard completions to retake the lead. Even when he didn’t throw a perfect pass, it seemed to work out. In the final two minutes of the first half, he fired an absolute missile toward Polk that a Texas defensive back deflected straight into the air. Instead of falling to the turf, however, the ball fluttered right back down into Polk’s hands for a 29-yard touchdown.
The Washington quarterback came out firing after halftime as well. With the score knotted at 21 after two quarters, he led the Huskies 70 yards in eight plays to start the third quarter with a touchdown. Penix completed all six of his passes for 61 yards, including a 19-yard dart to Jalen McMillan for his second touchdown pass of the game.
Penix ended the game with 29 completions on 38 attempts, throwing for 430 yards and two touchdowns. He racked up 341 yards on his first 22 attempts, averaging more than 15 yards per attempt well into the third quarter, and completed his first 11 passes of the second half.
On the other side, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers was in full boom-or-bust mode. The Longhorns junior completed just 10 of his first 20 passes but still managed 102 yards on the work. He turned it on late, ending the game with 318 yards and a touchdown, but he missed too many early passes to keep pace with Penix’s masterclass.
The game got away from Texas on their first offensive play of the third quarter. Trailing 28-21, the Longhorns needed to answer Washington’s statement touchdown and instead fumbled on first down to surrender the ball right back to the Huskies. Penix and the offense could only generate a field goal, but it was still the game’s first two-score lead and put the game in their hands.
The Huskies played clock control once they took command, as Texas only held the ball for 2:21 of the third quarter and ran five offensive plays.
A Huskies field goal in the opening minute of the fourth made it a 34-21 game, and the Texas offense had last gasps to make it a game. The Longhorns survived a second fumble by stymying Penix into a punt, and Ewers threw a perfect back-shoulder fade to Adonai Mitchell in the end zone to cut the lead to six points with seven minutes to play.
Penix wasn’t going to let the game get away, however. He marched the Huskies down the field one final time, converting a huge third down before driving his team into the red zone with a perfect sideline pass to star wideout Rome Odunze for 32 yards for a final bow.
A chip-shot field goal later, and Washington held a two-score lead again. A late Texas field goal made the final margin slightly closer, but an onside kick recovery seemed to seal the Huskies’ victory.
However, a pair of unfathomable breaks ensued. Johnson, Washington’s starting running back, was injured and needed to be helped off the field on third down, stopping the clock and giving the ball back to Texas with 40 seconds left. Then, one of the Huskies gunners ran into the Longhorns’ return man for a penalty to improve their field position, and Ewers found Jordan Whittington for a 41-yard gain into Washington territory to give Texas life. A few plays later, a Huskies blitz seemed to end the game when Ewers needed to throw it away, but the officials put one last second on the clock. Texas’ last gasp came up empty after defensive back Elijah Jackson swatted away another fade intended for Mitchell, finally bringing the lengthy final minute to an end.
Washington will play the Wolverines for the national championship on January 8.