Inside The Huskies

Penix Jumps to the Top of the Heisman Race With His Oregon Performance

The UW quarterback's heroics against the Ducks have made him the odds-on favorite.
Dan Raley|
Penix Jumps to the Top of the Heisman Race With His Oregon Performance
Penix Jumps to the Top of the Heisman Race With His Oregon Performance

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He cramped up and pushed on, played the conquering hero with his game-winning touchdown pass with just 98 seconds left on the clock and, when Washington's heroic 36-33 victory over Oregon was over, Michael Penix Jr. revealed his soft side to the nation — he cried on camera.

Put it all together, and everyone agrees this was a Heisman Trophy-worthy performance on all levels.

While Penix entered the weekend topping some ballots, he came out of it as the odds-on Heisman favorite, greatly assisted by Caleb Williams and USC's 48-20 face-plant at Notre Dame. Williams is bidding to become just the second repeat winner, matching Ohio State running back Archie Griffin in 1974 and 1975. 

Seven weeks into the season, Penix has shot to the top of the discussion in near-unanimous fashion with his gutsy showing that was broadcast coast to coast by ESPN. He overcame cramping that put him in a medical tent and made people hold their breath. He teared up while doing a post-game interview, so emotional was the moment.

Even his Husky teammates upped their in-house Heisman campaign for the 6-foot-3, 213-pound left-hander from Tampa, Florida.

"There's the Heisman Trophy winner," remarked wide receiver Rome Odunze, the recipient of Penix's late 18-yard touchdown pass that beat the Ducks, pointing at his quarterback as he left the postgame interview room.

In the back of the spacious room, offensive guard Roger Rosengarten looked up at a bank of cameras and phone-wielding media members, and implored, "I don't know why he's not the front-runner for the Heisman."

Well, Roger, he is now. Fox Sports listed its top five players in this order: Penix, Williams, Oregon's Bo Nix, Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel and Florida State's Jordan Travis. Penix's game-winning throw to Odunze, preceded by a 35-yard toss to Ja'Lynn Polk, was enough to sway these guys. 

"Every Heisman Trophy winner has 'a Heisman moment' — that one play or drive that cements their name as the best in the sport," Fox Sports sized up. "With more than two minutes remaining in the game, and Washington trailing by four, Penix had that moment. The do-it-all quarterback threw back-to-back perfect passes."

Sportsnaut.com elevated Penix to its No. 1 choice while taking Williams all the way out of consideration. Its top five went like this: Penix, Gabriel, Travis, North Carolina's Drake May and Nix.

"Even more impressively than his 4-touchdown performance was the ease with which he led the Huskies offense on a game-winning drive against a respectable Oregon Ducks defense," Sportsnaut wrote.

The Associated Press noted how Williams seemed a little beaten down after he threw 3 interceptions in the 4-touchdown loss to Notre Dame, quoting him as saying, "Been in college football for three years now, and I don't think I've ever had a season or a game or anything like that."

Penix, however, continues to stay strong, having one big outing after another. He's guided his Husky team to a 6-0 start this fall and 17-2 success over two seasons. He leads the nation in passing yards per game with 383.50, well ahead of Colorado's Shedeur Sanders, who's at 345.71, while ranking among the leaders in most other passing categories.

This late in the season, the Montlake quarterback finds himself on hallowed ground as the midseason Heisman Trophy leader, something no other UW player has experienced.   

"Penix heads into the second half of the season as the Heisman favorite, having thrown for 2,301 yards and 20 touchdowns," the AP's Ralph Russo concluded. "Who else?"

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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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