Michael Penix Jr.'s Washington teammates felt he got snubbed in not winning the Heisman Trophy last month, when he finished runner-up to LSU QB Jayden Daniels, but there's no debating whatsoever that Penix was the best quarterback on the sport's biggest stage Monday.
Penix delivered one of the best performances in the history of the College Football Playoff, completing 29 of 38 passes for 430 yards and 2 touchdowns in leading No. 2 Washington to a 37-31 semifinals win over No. 3 Texas in New Orleans.
Washington (14-0) is heading to the national championship game for the first time in the history of the CFP format (since 2014) or its predecessor the BCS championship game (1998-2013), and will face No. 1 Michigan (14-0), which advanced with a 27-20 overtime win over Alabama earlier Saturday.
The Huskies were recognized as co-national champions in Miami in 1991, finishing No. 1 in the Coaches Poll and No. 2 in the AP poll. (As of 2007, Washington also claims a share of the 1960 national title, as recognized by the Helms Athletic Foundation at the time.)
As for this Huskies team, it was led as always by Penix, who was simply sensational, whistling passes through tight windows and dropping dimes downfield to his talented receivers while making sure the Huskies never trailed Monday night.
Penix flashed his incredible downfield accuracy just four plays into the Huskies' first possession on a 77-yard strike to Ja'Lynn Polk that set up an early 2-yard touchdown run for Dillon Johnson.
After Texas tied it up on the next possession and both teams then traded punts, Penix got the Huskies moving again with completions of 29 yards to Germie Bernard and 24 yards to Rome Odunze on a drive that would end with a 1-yard Johnson touchdown run.
Bernard muffed a punt to help Texas tie it up again at 14-14, but Penix went right back to work with a 52-yard completion to Odunze on the first play of the next drive. The pass was dropped perfectly over Odunze's shoulder down the middle of the field, but the drive would stall when Johnson was stuffed on fourth-and-1.
Penix later put Washington up 21-14 on a 29-yard touchdown to Polk, who juggled the catch before hauling it in with 1:27 left in the half.
Texas answered with a late score to tie it again on a short CJ Baxter touchdown run to make it 21-21 at halftime, but the Longhorns couldn't keep trading punches with Penix.
Penix found Jalen McMillan for a 19-yard touchdown to start the third quarter, throwing an absolute laser on a straight line into the middle of the end zone.
The Huskies defense then made its presence felt as Bralen Trice forced a fumble on the next play from scrimmage, jarring the ball from Baxter as Asa Turner recovered for Washington at the Longhorns' 33.
Grady Gross added field goals of 26 and 40 yards to push the Huskies' lead to 34-21 early in the fourth quarter.
That would be too much for Texas to overcome, especially as Jaydon Blue lost a fumble after a 19-yard reception into Huskies territory.
The Longhorns did briefly make it a one-score game after Quinn Ewers hit Xavier Worthy for 38 yards downfield to set up a 1-yard touchdown to Adonai Mitchell to make it a 34-28 game.
But Penix just kept delivering.
He dropped a beautiful 32-yard pass right over the shoulder of Odunze down the sideline to set up another Gross field goal -- from 27 yards -- to make it 37-28 with 2:40 left to play.
That would be enough -- eventually. Texas managed to tack on a late field goal, failed to recover the ensuing onside kick but got the ball back with 50 seconds after Washington curiously chose not to just kneel out the clock, instead running plays -- the last of which resulted in an injury to Johnson, which prevented significant clock runoff. The Longhorns got it all the way to the Huskies' 12 and got a couple clean looks into the end zone but couldn't connect.
No, Penix didn't win the Heisman, but he now has a chance to be the last QB standing when this college football season is done next Monday night.
His 430 passing yards are the second-most in a CFP semifinal behind Joe Burrow's 493 yards in 2019.
Odunze finished with 6 catches for 125 yards and Polk had 5 catches for 122 yards and the touchdown.
Check back for postgame reaction.
