On their Ultimate Trick Play, the Huskies Got Outfoxed by the Officials
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It was the play that never was.
OK, the University of Washington got a touchdown out of it midway through the second quarter of the Apple Cup and rightly celebrated, but everyone involved was more than a little dumbfounded by what happened.
On the scoresheet, people will see that Michael Penix Jr. scored on a 30-yard play to put the Huskies ahead 21-17 over Washington State on Saturday night at Martin Stadium.
But how?
The quarterback was sure he came away with a touchdown catch, but the officials ruled it a scoring run.
Momentarily, UW offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, wide receiver Jalen McMillan and Penix couldn't believe it and each of them might even have been a tad disappointed by the officiating decision, though a tad isn't very much at all.
They all came out of the 51-33 victory in Pullman thinking one thing and finding out another.
"After the game, I told him on the field I never had a quarterback that threw one, ran one and caught one," Grubb said of Penix's bid for a QB touchdown trifecta. "I was super fired up. Then somebody broke the news to me. It was a bummer."
Here's how everything unfolded for maybe the Huskies' most deceptive play of the season, possibly the leader in trickery among many drawn up by Grubb over 12 games.
McMillan lined up to the left of Penix, who was in shotgun formation. The receiver started in motion to the right as the QB called the signals.
Penix took one step and threw the ball three yards at a backward trajectory to McMillan.
Here's where things didn't exactly go to plan: McMillan took one step, turned and fired it to Penix — unaware he actually threw it in a backward direction, too, by maybe a scant yard — when he still was permitted let loose with a forward pass and was sure he had done that.
"Yeah, I'm a quarterback," McMillan said, joking around as he replayed the trickery. "My arm hasn't been put to use for awhile so they called me back there and said, 'Mike, you're not throwing that great.' "
Penix drifted to his left and was ready when his teammate zipped the ball to him. He caught it close to eight yards behind the line of original scrimmage, zipped through a clear lane up the left sideline and had a Cougars defensive back make a futile reach for him at the WSU 4.
The Husky quarterback didn't find out the play was scored as a run until he was sitting in a media briefing well after the game was over and the Apple Cup trophy had been awarded to the Huskies. The look on his face was total surprise and priceless.
"Oh, they called it a run? Man!" Penix said. "Man, I didn't get a receiving [TD]?! That's crazy! ... I'd been telling Coach Grubb all week I was going to score on it, so I had to make sure I got in the end zone."
In the end, the UW play went in the books as a pair of lateral passes leading to a rushing score, which simply wasn't as sexy as a quarterback touchdown catch. Oh, well. There's always the bowl game to try something offbeat again.
"Hey, the play worked," McMillan, the pretend quarterback, pointed out. "As long as we got a touchdown, I'm good."
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