Inside The Huskies

Penix Doesn't Say Anything — and Texas Followers Are Offended

The Husky quarterback doesn't recall much about the Alamo Bowl other than he won.
Dan Raley|
Penix Doesn't Say Anything — and Texas Followers Are Offended
Penix Doesn't Say Anything — and Texas Followers Are Offended

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Washington Huskies

Down in Texas, people are scouring online messages for something, anything, coming out of Seattle that might be construed as derogatory to the Longhorns football team and its fan base to get excited about.

Following a pre-Christmas media session with University of Washington football players, they were convinced they found that insult.

Husky quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was asked what he recalled about the previous UW-Texas game played 12 months earlier at the Alamo Bowl and won by the UW 27-20.

In typical Penix fashion, he responded, "I don't remember nuthin'. I just remember winning."

Oh, what a slam. That just cut to the bone, didn't it? If people still had bulletin boards, that comment surely would be considered post worthy, right?

Huh?

Anyone who has ever personally interacted with Penix knows by now he never says anything inflammatory, nothing at all to offend anyone, that he's conditioned to banter some with his inquisitors but never pulls rank on anyone.

Penix recently finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up to LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels in one of the closest votes in recent years, an outcome that others questioned out loud because Daniels' SEC team lost three games while Penix plays for a 13-0 CFP entry.

The UW signal-caller was asked if he was disappointed he didn't win the college game's biggest individual accolade. He just shrugged.

"I wasn't worried about it," Penix said. "You know, it's not in my control. What's in my control is what I can do for this team and help this team win football games. We've got Texas and then after that we've got bigger things we're playing for right now."

The Husky headliner drew attention to himself at the Heisman ceremony two weeks ago by wearing a tailored purple suit that had the names of all of his coaches and teammates sewn into the inside lining.

Penix joked he'll always keep that colorful keepsake in his closet, in the front of it no less.

Yet as far as that Heisman hardware that didn't come his way, he waved it off. 

"I wasn't really worried about it," he said. "I was just super excited to be there and just blessed to be in the moment and have the opportunity to be out in New York."

Anybody in Texas have a problem with that? He'll be excited to be in New Orleans, too, but not looking to be the runner-up.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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