Huskies Finally Finish Off WSU, Perfect Regular Season
At the 115th Apple Cup, the University of Washington football team on Saturday afternoon gave 15 seniors a Husky Stadium farewell. The Huskies also nearly said goodbye to their perfect season and a College Football Playoff berth before sending stubborn Washington State back to the Palouse with a final-play 24-21 defeat and keeping everything intact.
As this team has done for two months, it found yet another way to win a closely contested game, relying on Grady Gross' 42-yard field goal with no time left — for its eighth consecutive victory by 10 points or less. The Huskies finished the regular-season schedule with a spotless record (12-0 overall, 9-0 Pac-12), matching the 1991 national championship squad's pre-playoffs finish.
Gross' three-pointer capped a 90-yard drive inside the final 1:59, earned him a scholarship from coach Kalen DeBoer in the post-game celebration and sent a good portion of the 71,312 crowd spilling on to the field.
For the fourth-ranked Huskies, it's now on to the Pac-12 championship game on Friday at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas to face No. 5 Oregon (11-1, 8-1), a team pining for a rematch after getting beat 36-33 in Seattle in mid-October.
Whether DeBoer's outfit can keep scrambling to stay unbeaten and extend its 19-game winning streak is unclear, but it's certain the UW will need to step it up a lot more on offense and defense to hang with the Ducks.
With this one going down to the wire, the UW pulled off the biggest gamble by going for it on fourth-and-1 from its 29 with 1:14 left in the game and the game tied. Quarterback Michael Penix Jr. faked to running back Dillon Johnson, wheeled and flipped the ball to Rome Odunze, who ran around the left side for 23 yards to extend the drive.
"It definitely was a risky call," Odunze said. "But for me, every time it's lets go get the first down. I would go for it on fourth-and-45 in Madden sometimes. I don't care, I want to go get the first down."
Penix had the option of handing off to Johnson, but read wide-open spaces on the outside.
"I was looking at the guy on the edge of the defense and he squeezed in," Penix said. "There was just a lot of grass out there."
Asked where this chance-taking play rated among his overall bold body of work, the head coach acknowledged it was pushing limits.
"Way back there's been some risky plays, but it's certainly up there," DeBoer said. "Given the moment, the situation, field location, time of the game, all of those."
Gross had missed a kick earlier in the game, and three in row counting recent games. The sophomore from Scottsdale, Arizona, actually sent one through that was waved off when Washington State got a timeout called to make him think about.
A walk-on entering the game, the kicker emerged with a scholarship in hand following the Husky locker-room celebration.
"We were just looking for the right time and today certainly was that time," DeBoer said. "We knew sooner or later the time was going to come when we recognized him. Our team really believes in Grady."
Against the Cougars (5-7, 2-7), the Huskies welcomed starting linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala back after a one-game injury absence, but went most of the game without first-team and well-worn defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa, who was saluted as a departing senior but wasn't inserted until the final four-plus minutes. They used whoever they could, whenever they could.
For three quarters, the UW had an absolute struggle to put much distance between itself and WSU. Penix might have seen his Heisman Trophy hopes slip some with maybe his most inaccurate Husky passing outing, with a lot of his throws overshooting receivers, yet he was still good enough to toss a pair of touchdown strikes to Odunze covering 40 and 21 yards.
Penix completed 18 of 33 passes for 204 yards and those 2 scores, but he wasn't the best QB on this field. WSU's Cam Ward hit on 32 of 48 passes for 317 yards and 3 scores. Still, Penix got the win.
On their second possession of the game from their 49, the Huskies got the offense moving, beginning with an 8-yard pass to Jalen McMillan. This was a positive development for UW on multiple fronts — it marked McMillan's first catch in two months since he injured a knee at Michigan State and he looked like the playmaker he was before.
McMillan, going without the heavy knee brace that slowed him in previous games, caught another 8-yarder three plays later to move the Huskies to the WSU 10. He finished with 5 catches for 26 yards.
"There were some really good things that were great to see —getting Jalen McMillan back in a flow," DeBoer said. "He helps us stay ahead of the chains."
Germie Bernard looks for room to run against WSU in the 115th Apple Cup.
Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports
Dillon Johnson put the Huskies on the scoreboard first with his 1-yard plunge up the middle, where he ran up the back of his blocking tight end Devin Culp in the end zone. No harm, no foul. With 3:54 left in the quarter, it was 7-0.
After opening with a couple of 3-and-outs on offense, the Cougars came right back and tied the game. They needed just a minute and half to go 76 yards. Ward found tightly guarded Josh Kelly in the back of the end zone with a 21-yard scoring throw, barely beating cornerback Jabbar Muhammad.
The game then bogged down. The Huskies punted, held WSU on downs at their 45, missed a 43-yard field goal and intercepted Ward.
JC transfer Thaddeus Dixon came up with the pass theft at the WSU 49, the first of his Husky career, when Ward overshot a receiver.
Rome Odunze celebrates his 40-yard touchdown catch against WSU with tight end Jack Westover.
Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY
The UW made Cougars pay right away for this mistake when, three plays later, Penix hit a wide-open Odunze for the 40-yard scoring strike. WSU's Lampkin fell down at the line of scrimmage, leaving Odunze free to do what he wanted and an instant TD was the result. With 5:37 remaining in the half, the Huskies led 14-7.
After a couple of punts, the Cougars got the ball back on their 41 with just 1:05 left in the half, yet it was more than enough time to come up with a tying score.
With eight seconds left, Ward put one in the hands of Kyle Williams, who got a foot down on the left side of the end zone with Husky corner Elijah Jackson in tight coverage. A replay verified the play and WSU went to the locker room with a 14-14 tie.
The Huskies went ahead 21-14 on the final play of the third quarter when Odunze pulled in the second scoring throw over his outside shoulder, beating WSU's Lampkin. This gave Odunze 13 receiving touchdowns, third most in a UW season behind Mario Bailey' 18 and John Ross with 17. Odunze finished the game with 7 catches for 120 yards.
"Day in and day out the work we put in throughout the week we understand we have each other's back and no matter the situation we have to find a way to execute and come out with a win," Penix said. "We were able to do that today."
Early in the fourth period, the Huskies came up with another pass interception on a double tipped pass. Ward's throw bounced off the hands of Cougar receiver Lincoln Victor and then the fingertips of UW's Jackson before starting safety Makell Esteen caught it on the dive at the 27. The Huskies, however, couldn't do anything with this turnover.
Getting the ball back, the Cougars settled in for a 13-play 65-yard drive in which they drove for Dean Jankikowski's 35-yard field only to take it off the board when the UW was flagged for a personal foul. Safety Dominique Hampton leaped over the center with a running start, which was flagged.
Two plays later, WSU tied the game when Ward hit Victor with an 8-yard touchdown pass, with Hampton missing on a goal-line tackle. Just 5:58 was left in the game.
The Huskies would buckle down, choose to ignore overtime and put everyone on the edge of their seats with that gutsy fourth-and-1 call that led to the game-winning field goal.
"I wanted to go out and not be crazy, but I just really wanted to make sure we had the ball to win the game," DeBoer said. "It took that play to do that."
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