Washington's Sugar Bowl successes and challenges.

IN NEW ORLEANS—A Washington Huskies game isn’t complete until the very end. But this was a very bad case, even for a team used to tense ends.

The Texas Longhorns were almost certainly dead when all of a sudden they came back to life and were close to scoring the winning goal in the Sugar Bowl. They were down six points and on the Huskies’ 13-yard line. At the very end, they had a chance to steal a College Football Playoff playoff game.

Quinn Ewers, the quarterback for Texas, threw the ball into the end zone three times. All three throws were incomplete when they hit the ground. Washington held on to win 37–31, and now they will play Michigan next week for the national title. It will be the last game of the season and the game between the last two unbeaten teams in the country.

This was Washington’s tenth straight win by 10 points or less. It was the fifth game in a row with only one score. It showed how skilled and determined the Huskies were as a team, but it also showed that even if something seems certain, it’s not really certain until it’s over.

At 2:40 left, Washington made a field goal to make the score 37–28. It looked like they would win. Before the onside kick, the Huskies held Texas to a field goal on their next drive. It looked like they had a lock. Things went strange after that.

When Washington took over with 1:06 left, he passed the ball to Dillon Johnson three times in a row. After first and second down, Texas used its last timeout. On third down, Washington had a chance to run out the clock with less than 20 seconds left in the game, but Johnson aggravated an injury that had been bugging him for a while, stopping the clock.

With a little less than a minute left, the Huskies punted, and then they got in the way of Texas’s fair catch. The Horns suddenly had 45 seconds left and 69 yards to go. This made the task less impossible than it had looked.

What a surprise! Ewers threw a 41-yard bomb to Jordan Whittington and then a 16-yard bomb to Jaydon Blue. A game that Texas never led was surprisingly close to being won.

American football coach Kalen DeBoer said, “Thought we’d end up with maybe 10 to 15 seconds to work with and then go the whole length of the field.” “But the defence had to play every play until the end.” “So proud of how tough they were and how they found another way to win the football game.”

Michael Penix Jr., the quarterback for Washington, watched from the sidelines with hope and then relief. This team had won so many close games that they couldn’t imagine losing the biggest one yet.

Penix said, “Coach DeBoer always says we’re built for this moment, and we believed him.” “We all had faith from the sidelines.”

For the third time in the last four games, the Huskies won this game for about 59 minutes, even though they were the underdogs. Penix gave the people who chose the Heisman Trophy a case of voter’s regret by throwing for 430 yards against a very good Texas defence.

The runner-up for the Heisman to LSU’s Jayden Daniels made 22 of his first 24 passes, including 11 straight to begin the second half. Early on, he threw a 77-yard bomb to Ja’Lynn Polk on the first play. In the middle, he hit Rome Odunze with a 52-yard shot and Germie Bernard and Polk with 29-yarders. And late, he hit Odunze with a 32-yard dime. This was probably one of the best quarterback performances in the history of the College Football Playoff. The only ones that might be better are Joe Burrow’s demolition of Oklahoma in 2019, Trevor Lawrence’s demolition of Alabama in 2018, and Stetson Bennett’s games against Michigan in 2021 and TCU in 22.

The coach said of Penix, “He set the tone pretty quickly.” “He threw everything.” It seemed like he was so good with his feet in the pocket, recovering, and making throws, all things we know he can do. We played a good defence today in Texas, so he had to use all of the tools and skills that make him unique and, in my opinion, the best player in college football.This guy was on a whole other level all month to make sure this battle won.

The receivers Penix throws to are the best in the country, and the offensive line he works with won the Joe Moore Award as the best in the country. The defensive line of Texas almost couldn’t hold back its belief that it would beat the Huskies up front, but Washington won that game too. The Longhorns only had three stops for loss and no sacks.

Now that the Pac-12 season is over, Washington has the chance to end it in style. The Huskies’ decision to leave the Pac-12 and join the Big Ten starting next season was a death blow to the conference. However, their last football game as a member of the Pac-12 could bring the league’s first national title since 2004.

The Huskies beat Oregon State on the road as a one-point underdog and then beat Oregon in the Pac-12 title game as a 9 1/2-point underdog. Now they beat Texas as a four-point outsider. Plus, they won’t have a big advantage over Michigan either. That’s okay with them.

Penix said, “I’ve said that our goal was to win the national championship since around fall camp.” “And I think some people didn’t believe us. But we have the chance to do that. We’re not going to let anything else take our attention away from that goal.

Of course, this was a step in the right direction. It has also given us the chance to play in that game. We’re still driven, though. There are still more things we want to do. The natty is right in front of us.

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