Even the most optimistic Washington football fan couldn't have expected this. Even those who saw the hire of head coach Kalen DeBoer as the ticket to a quick turnaround for the program couldn't have imagined it would come this quickly, this emphatically.
The Huskies polished off an absolutely incredible debut season under DeBoer with a 27-20 win in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Thursday night.
From 4-8 and rudderless last season to 11-2 and one of the best teams in the country this year -- there's simply no understating what DeBoer and this group accomplished.
"Tonight was a culmination, I think, of everything we've worked on," DeBoer said afterward. "The things we've tried to improve, especially in the latter half of the season, you saw our physicality, I think, take that next step. Finding a way to win is something we've really emphasized and told the guys last night, if it's a close game we're going to find a way to win. Kind of the refuse to lose mantra has been piece of what we've talked about a lot too. Super proud of this team."
Star quarterback Michael Penix Jr. passed for 287 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception in one of his more modest statistical performances, but that pushed him to a program-record 4,641 passing yards for the season (most in the FBS and second in Div. 1 only to Western Kentucky's Austin Reed) with 31 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.
Jalen McMillan (8 catches for 58 yards) and Taj Davis (4 catches for 32 yards) hauled in touchdown receptions, while running back Wayne Taulapapa rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
The Huskies yielded 369 passing yards to Texas but absolutely stifled the Longhorns on the ground, allowing just 51 rushing yards.
A 42-yard Taulapapa touchdown run in the second quarter and two Peyton Henry field goals staked Washington State to a 13-3 halftime lead.
Penix connected with Davis on a 6-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter and hit McMillan for an 8-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to 27-10.
"Obviously early on it wasn't clean and we wish we did a lot better, but at the same time we knew that this team and this offense wasn't going to stop," Penix said. "We were going to continue to keep swinging and we knew that those punches we were going to throw they were going to end up landing real big."
That final touchdown drive involved a gutsy call to go for it on fourth-and-2 from just inside midfield at the Texas 47. Penix connected with tight end Devin Culp for a 9-yard gain to extend what would prove to be the decisive scoring drive.
"We had some situations that we could work through depending on what they were going to give us, and once they called the timeout it really felt like we had a good play call," DeBoer said. "... It gave us some more time to really kind of work through and give me a chance to think about what the pros and cons were. Again, putting the ball in Mike's hands and I really like the idea of moving the pocket and getting him outside where we can run and pass. He did a nice job executing."
Texas responded with a 74-yard touchdown drive and later managed to make it a one-score game on a 26-yard Bert Auburn field goal with 1:40 remaining and got the ball back with 25 seconds left but couldn't mount any real threat in the end.
DeBoer was an intriguing hire at the time, coming off a 9-3 record and 6-win improvement in his second year at Fresno State, but those two seasons were the extent of his FBS head coaching experience. He had previously gone 67-3 at NAIA-level Sioux Falls from 2005-09, winning three NAIA championships.
In between, he had built his resume as an offensive coordinator at Southern lllinois, Eastern Michigan, Fresno State and Indiana before returning to Fresno State for the head coaching job.
But again, nobody could have thought the Huskies resurgence would happen immediately under DeBoer.
Now Washington fans can only imagine what is to come, especially with Penix already announcing his return for 2023 ...
"This momentum we've built up from all these wins and all this hard work we've put in, I don't know about you guys but I feel like I could go out and play another game," edge rusher Bralen Trice said.
Said DeBoer: "You want to celebrate it because you've got guys like Wayne who poured so much into this and you really want them to be able to enjoy and celebrate with them what we've all accomplished, but you can't help but just be fired up about what we have returning. I really still think there's so much and area for us to improve. That's the scary thing.
"Every year is its own year. When we have this chance to get back together in January, we have to reset everything because there's going to be new leaders, just different vibes and nothing that we did this year carries over. No points, no wins -- it all starts over. So we'll definitely address that. I want to enjoy tonight. I want to enjoy this season. We finished the way we wanted to, but man, I'm fired up about what lies ahead."
