Huskies rely on prowess in close games
NEW ORLEANS — With one second on the clock Monday night, Roger Rosengarten held his breath on the Washington sideline.
“I think every Husky fan in the Superdome was holding their breath,” Rosengarten, a 6-foot-6, 300-pound sophomore right tackle, said after the No. 2 Huskies held on for a 37-31 win over thirdranked Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
“I’d rather win by 20. The last four or five months, having these close games, has been brutal.”
The road to the CFP championship game — a Jan. 8 matchup with top-ranked Michigan at NRG Stadium — has been filled with one curve after another. Washington has won each of its past 10 games by 10 points or fewer, the longest streak by any team in the Associated Press poll era that began in 1936, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
“We do say it doesn’t have to be close. It builds character, no?” senior edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui said with a smile.
Maybe that’s why the Huskies did not flinch when — despite an unblemished record — they were fourpoint underdogs to the Longhorns. All they did was put together a quick fourplay touchdown drive on the opening series and never trail in the game.
“We’re always disrespected, always made the underdogs,” defensive end Bralen Trice said.
It’s why Washington didn’t panic when Texas, aided by the scrambling of quarterback Quinn Ewers and a late hit penalty, tied the score at 21 just before halftime. After all, the Huskies had quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who made one big throw after another. The Heisman Trophy runner-up completed 76% of his passes, with 247 of his 430 yards collected by All-America wide receiver Rome Odunze and Ja’Lynn Polk.
And the Huskies didn’t collapse late when the Longhorns turned a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit into a one-possession game with 69 seconds left. Rather than take a knee, the Huskies ran the ball on first and second down. Texas called a timeout both times. Washington ran again on third down, with running back Dillon Johnson suffering an apparent foot injury that stopped the clock.
Texas got the ball back with 45 seconds left.
On the Longhorns’ final possession, Ewers threw two incomplete passes before Jordan Whittington’s 41yard catch. Two plays later, Jaydon Blue’s 16-yard catch put Texas at the 12-yard line. Washington didn’t budge. Texas had four attempts to win the game. But on fourth down with one second left, Ewers’ pass to Adonai Mitchell was broken up by cornerback Elijah Jackson in the corner of the end zone.
“They’ve done it all year, coming up with big-time stops in big-time moments,” said Penix, who was 29-of-38 with two touchdowns and no turnovers.
That’s been the story all season for the Huskies, especially down the stretch. Following a 10-point win over USC to begin November, Washington beat Utah by seven, topped Oregon State by two, needed a walk-off field goal to escape Washington State, and handed Oregon another three-point loss in the Pac-12 championship game.
“I think we always draw on our experiences,” Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said before Monday’s game. “There is a deep, deep, deep belief right now in our football team that when the moments get tough, we can really hone in and guys will just do their job. Not get overwhelmed, go execute.”
That resiliency and lategame mettle has the Huskies on the doorstep of the school’s first national championship since 1991.
“This season, we’ve done this the last (10) games. That’s proof of what we already knew,” Tupuola-Fetui said. “Us being 14-0 and going to the national championship, winning close games — those are things we already believed in. Now we are just going out there and proving it.”