Inside The Huskies

Top 10 Most Compelling Husky Plays of the Season: No. 2

Mishael Powell saved an unbeaten season for the UW with a heads-up interception for a score with the game winding down.
Dan Raley|
Top 10 Most Compelling Husky Plays of the Season: No. 2
Top 10 Most Compelling Husky Plays of the Season: No. 2

In this story:

Washington Huskies

For the first time in the Kalen DeBoer era, the University of Washington football team's high-powered offense didn't work.

It sputtered all game. Quarterback Michael Penix was notably ill and throwing into a wind. The offensive line didn't seem well either. Dillon Johnson finished with 6 yards rushing. 

While there would be a whole host of close games, the Huskies' home matchup with Arizona State, coming the week following an uplifting 36-33 shootout win over Oregon, felt like a disaster in the making. 

DeBoer's guys entered the fourth quarter without a touchdown and not much else, trailing 7-6, and the Sun Devils were driving, reaching the UW 12, and looking for a kill shot.

Instead, the visitors double-faulted. They gave everything away — the ball, the lead, momentum and ultimately all upset hopes.

What happened was Husky nickelback Mishael Powell stepped in front of Trenton Bourget's pass in the right flat and he didn't stop running until he had completed an 89-yard interception return for a go-ahead score with 8:11 remaining in the game, at the same time saving an unbeaten season in a 15-7 victory.

In a season full of heroic, heart-felt and sometimes weird moments, we count down in reverse order the 10 most memorable plays for DeBoer's 13-0 UW team.

At No. 2, for all of its game-rescuing implications, is Powell's instinctive pick-6, an explosive play that jolted everyone awake and made the customary Husky siren wail more of a celebratory moment than a cry for help.

"It's just reaction," the junior from Seattle said. "Just catch it and go from there. Just secure it first. Once I caught it and I'd already turned, it was, 'Oh, yeah, it's daylight,' and I have to take advantage of it."

Powell told how the Sun Devils had sent a man in motion all game for him to track and didn't use him. This time, wide receiver Melquan Stovall seemed to tip what was coming with his demeanor, that the ball finally was coming his way.

It wasn't enough close as Stovall slipped while cutting back for the ball, and Powell jumped the play and headed for the East end zone in a full sprint.

With long strides, he ran nearly the length of the field, with edge rusher Sekai Asoau-Afoa providing an escort and ASU's Bourget making a futile attempt to stop him around the Sun Devils 27, left to slide out of bounds on his stomach. 

Powell reached the end zone with both arms outstretched and then raised them to acknowledge the cheering fans before he was smothered by a half-dozen teammates. 

With the huge turnover, the veteran defensive back claimed a large swath of the Husky Stadium turf for himself for perpetuity. He can always point to the path he took and say it is his.

"I will say it's something I will always cherish so I can tell my kids, like, if we ever come to a game," Powell said. "It's like, 'Hey, you know your dad, he caught a ball like right on this yard line and he took back all the way to the house.' "

UW TOP 10 PLAYS OF THE SEASON

1. TBD

2. Mishael Powell's 89-yard interception TD return

3. Rome Odunze's 18-yard game-winning TD catch

4. Devin Culp's 22-yard touchdown catch

5. Zion Tupuola-Fetui's USC sack

6. Rome Odunze's 83-yard TD punt return

7. Grady Gross' Apple Cup 42-yard walk-off field goal

8. Edefuan Ulofoshio's 45-yard interception TD return

9. Ja'Lynn Polk's 92-yard touchdown catch

10. Alphonzo Tuputala's 76-yard interception return

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published. Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com or https://www.facebook.com/dan.raley.12

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 or @UWFanNation or @DanRaley3

Have a question, direct message me on Facebook or Twitter.

Published
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.

Home/Football