There wasn't a single play that Michael Penix Jr. couldn't make on Monday night. As Texas covered its receivers, the Washington quarterback fired lasers down the middle. As the Longhorns applied pressure, Penix increased his checkdowns. And when he discovered his favorite weapons on the field? Penix's rainbow volley continued to drive Washington toward the end zone.
In Washington's thrilling 37-31 shootout victory over Texas in the Sugar Bowl, Penix may have delivered his masterpiece to send the Huskies into a national championship game against Michigan next Monday night.
There were 592 first-place Heisman votes awarded to players other than Penix. The 23-year-old played on Monday night as if he wanted to send personal game recordings to all 592 voters.
Penix totaled over 460 yards (430 through the air, 31 on the ground) on 29 of 38 passes and two touchdowns. He played both the role of orchestrator – leading five different scoring drives of more than eight pieces – and the role of magician, delighting the New Orleans audience with a flurry of pieces more than 20 yards long. Penix was named the game's offensive MVP while Bralen Trice received the defensive honor.
He provided Rome Odunze, his favorite target of the season, with six catches for 125 yards, each long drive harder than the last.
Penix and the Huskies' offense didn't take long to warm up as he connected with Ja'Lynn Polk on a 77-yard bomb on Washington's fourth play. Running back Dillon Johnson scored a 2-yard score seconds later — the first of Johnson's two scores — to open the floodgates.
Polk finished the game with 122 yards on five catches and a touchdown.
To Texas' credit, the Longhorns never collapsed against the buzzsaw. Quarterback Quinn Ewers faced constant pressure from Washington's relentless front seven, and when the Longhorns' passer wasn't being sacked, he often found targets in all corners of the field.
Despite struggling to get the ball to his star receivers Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell, Ewers finished the game with 318 yards on 24 of 43 passing with a touchdown while repeatedly driving the Longhorns into the red zone, resulting in three led to further rushing scores.
But in the end, Penix's size was overwhelming. Despite Ewers' consistent play, premature turnovers led to the Longhorns only managing five offensive plays. By the time Texas mounted its sixth offensive attack of the second half, Washington had scored 13 game-winning points.
The exciting second half was followed by a neck-and-neck first half that saw the two powerhouses score three touchdowns and rush for over 500 yards before the start of the third quarter.
Ewers and the Longhorns kept going until the final whistle, pulling off a 10-play touchdown drive of their own in the fourth quarter, but they ran out of time to continue their fateful season. With one second left in the game, the Longhorns had one last chance to take the lead and stun the Huskies, but Ewers' end-zone shot to Mitchell fell incomplete, saving Washington from an unthinkable comeback.
The wild last ride
After a failed onside kick attempt, the Texas defense got a three-point stop and the clock stopped with 50 seconds left when Washington's Johnson was sidelined with an injury. That gave the Longhorns an opportunity to put together a nine-play, 56-yard drive in the final minute, highlighted by a 41-yard catch by Jordan Whittington and a 16-yard catch by Jaydon Blue.
Ewers got four shots for a touchdown pass in the final 15 seconds and the Huskies' secondary stepped up, with safety Makell Esteen scoring the game-saving pass breakup against Mitchell on the final play of the night, securing the Huskies' berth in the national title game . – Max Olson, senior college football writer
Penix was as close to perfection as a QB can get
Penix finished second in the Heisman Trophy race but might have won if voting had taken place after the College Football Playoff. He was great on the biggest stage of his career, throwing for 430 yards and two touchdowns on 29 of 38 passes.
His accuracy and arm talent were on full display throughout the game and he started the second half with his first 11 passes. The Indiana transfer was plagued by injuries throughout his career but remained healthy in his two seasons in Seattle after rebooting his career by reuniting with new Washington coach and former Indiana OC Kalen DeBoer. His first pass of the day was a 77-yard rushing throw to Polk, and that was just the teaser. He repeatedly escaped sacks and bought himself time before shooting offside. He did that all season, but it was a virtuoso performance in front of the largest crowd of his career that put Washington on the cusp of a national title. — David Ubben, senior college football writer
Washington was again an underdog and won again
Texas is ranked No. 5 in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite. Washington is No. 26. But the undefeated Huskies, considered underdogs for a month, as they had against Oregon in the Pac-12 title game, remained undefeated by once again defeating a more talented team. Washington, a team with nine sixth-year players including its quarterback, didn't make the mistakes the Longhorns did to decide the game.
Aside from a botched punt in the first half, they managed to take the big stage and welcome a strongly pro-Texas crowd to the Superdome. The Huskies became the first team to go undefeated since the Pac-10 became the Pac-12, winning on the road as underdogs for the second time this season. — Ubben
What went wrong for Texas?
Texas had a few too many self-inflicted errors at critical moments against an experienced Washington team that didn't make many errors. A fumble by freshman running back CJ Baxter on Texas' first offensive play of the second half set up Washington for an easy field goal to go up 10 points, and another fumble by Blue at the end of a 33-yard catch-and-run killed a possession that put Texas in scoring position. These takeaways from the Huskies played a big role in a game that ultimately came down to one point.
The Texas defense deserves credit for shutting it down in the fourth quarter to give their offense a chance for a game-winning drive, but their secondary had a rough night against Penix, letting him give up a streak of 12 straight completions at one point 19 of 20. Texas' talented D-line finished the evening with zero sacks of Penix and just three tackles for a loss. –Olson
What does Texas look like for 2024?
Ewers has not yet announced whether he will return for his junior season, but that certainly seems to be the expectation as the Longhorns' 2023 season comes to a close. There are many more key Texas players making NFL Draft decisions in the next few weeks, and how they all turn out will certainly impact the positive impact of this program heading into its debut season in the SEC.
Their 2024 schedule includes some big ballgames, including a non-conference test at Michigan, a home game against Georgia and the first meeting with rival Texas A&M since 2011. Still, there is enough exciting young talent on this roster to live up to expectations for the Living up to the future Coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff will be competing for the 12-team College Football Playoff every year after this groundbreaking year, even if they advance to a much tougher conference. –Olson
Required reading
(Photo: Ken Murray / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)