Commentary: Top plays that helped UW Huskies reach national championship game
SEATTLE – Warning: There are snubs to come.
How can one produce a list of the University of Washington football team’s five most defining moments this season without leaving off a titan?
When the past 10 games – all wins – were decided by 10 points or fewer, iconic instances will abound.
The safety against Utah or late third-down conversion to finish Oregon State? Not listed in this column. In fact, even the three-point win vs. Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game – one of the most thrilling contests in Huskies history – is devoid of that single, remember-for-the-rest-of-time play.
Still, in what might be the most entertaining season that Seattle sports has seen, the Huskies have delivered moments that topped the highlight reel and tugged at heartstrings.
Knowing full well one (or two, or three) of these could get the boot after Monday’s national championship game vs. Michigan, here are the five most defining moments for this season’s Huskies.
5. ZTF’s strip sack vs. USC
This wasn’t the most spectacular play from the Huskies’ 52-42 victory over the Trojans. That took place when UW quarterback Michael Penix Jr. scrambled for nearly 10 seconds before finding tight end Devin Culp on a 22-yard touchdown pass. But late in the second quarter of that game, Zion Tupuola-Fetui forced the ball out of then-reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams’ hands on USC’s 25-yard line, setting up a Huskies go-ahead touchdown just before halftime.
And it happened a week after Tupuola-Fetui’s father died.
ZTF became a national story after that play – in part because he helped extend UW’s winning streak to 16 with a heavy heart. But it was his postgame embrace with Washington coach Kalen DeBoer that was truly poignant.
“This team loves you,” DeBoer told a sobbing ZTF.
4. Penix’s go-ahead TD pass vs. Oregon
Asked what moments from this season stood out to him on a conference call Wednesday, DeBoer mentioned the defensive stop on fourth-and-3 two plays earlier. The Ducks could have sealed the win with a first down in Huskies territory but fell short on fourth for the third time that day.
What followed that stop, however, is what will be immortalized in 2023 Huskies lore. After Penix connected with Ja’Lynn Polk on a 35-yard completion, he dropped back and hit Rome Odunze for an 18-yard TD catch to put the Huskies up 36-33 with 1:38 to go. The lead held, as a missed Oregon field-goal attempt at the buzzer gave UW the win.
3. Jackson’s swat to win the Sugar Bowl
Penix had never been better in his career than he was in New Orleans on Monday vs. Texas. There were at least five throws suggesting he might be the best pure passer in college football. But if we’re talking about definitive moments? That came on the game’s final play.
Somehow, after trailing by nine with less than 2 minutes to go, the Longhorns found themselves with a chance to win. Down 37-31, Texas was on Washington’s 12-yard line with 15 seconds left but proceeded to three incompletions. There was still one more chance, though, and when quarterback Quinn Ewers lobbed one up to Adonai Mitchell in the right corner of the end zone, it looked like the comeback of the season just might happen. Then, cornerback Elijah Jackson knocked it away.
The Huskies’ identity is rooted in their offense, which has long been one of the best in the country. They wouldn’t be in the natty without big plays from their “D,” though, and Jackson’s deflection proved that.
2. Powell’s pick-six vs. ASU
There is just something about those Sun Devils when they dance with Washington. ASU shocked the Huskies last season with an upset in Tempe and ruined their playoff chances as a result. Looked like that might happen again in October. With the Sun Devils up 7-6 on Washington’s 12, quarterback Trenton Bourguet threw a pass on fourth-and-3 that cornerback Mishael Powell intercepted and ran back to the end zone with 8:05 to play. A 15-7 UW victory ensued in the Huskies’ worst offensive performance of the season.
When Penix was asked what play stood most out to him this season, he went with Powell.
“He had an amazing play for us, Arizona State,” Penix said. “We were struggling on the offensive side of the ball, I couldn’t really move the ball, but him making a play helped our team spring ahead.”
1. Odunze’s fourth-down Apple Cup conversion
Huskies kicker Grady Gross won this game with a walkoff 42-yard field goal in UW’s 24-21 Apple Cup victory over Washington State. But it was the call – and the execution – earlier in the drive that made it happen. With the score tied at 21, Washington had a fourth-and-1 from its 29 with 1:07 to go. Then, Penix (but not before faking out the camera man and 90% of the stadium) flipped the ball to Odunze, who ran it 23 yards.
The courage it took for DeBoer to roll the dice? Stratospheric. For the Huskies to pull it off so effectively? Legendary.
For all the offensive wizardry this team has shown this season, and for all its game-changing defensive stops, that play best embodied this season’s Huskies. They play to win. That won’t change Monday.