Inside The Huskies

Top 10 Most Compelling Husky Plays of the Season: No. 4

Tight end Devin Culp provided an acrobatic catch at USC that left everyone in disbelief.
Dan Raley|
Top 10 Most Compelling Husky Plays of the Season: No. 4
Top 10 Most Compelling Husky Plays of the Season: No. 4

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Washington Huskies

Teams work and work to stop the University of Washington football team and then something happens like what took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

It's back-breaking stuff. Demoralizing beyond belief. Nothing short of unfair.

Leading 14-7 entering the second quarter, USC seemingly had the upper hand with the Huskies by putting them in a third-and-18 situation, one complicated by a bizarre personal foul call meted out to UW offensive tackle Troy Fautanu. 

"It was right after we got the crazy call with Troy with his helmet off trying to kill people," Husky tight end Devin Culp said.

Yet the guys who snuffed the life out of the Trojans on this play were Michael Penix Jr. and Culp,

They did this with a pure playground pitch and catch that resulted in Culp somehow coming down with a sensational 22-yard touchdown grab.

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

At No. 4 is Culp's scoring catch with a high degree of difficulty in the Huskies' 52-42 victory over USC, improvisation at its best by the 6-foot-4, 237-pound senior from Spokane.

Once the ball was snapped, Culp saw Penix get into trouble right away and begin to scramble while the tight end ran into the end zone and tried to get open.

"I never waved anyone down before or anything like that, but I didn't feel or see anyone right by me," Culp said. "I was like Mike can you throw it? Like throw it?"

Penix held onto the football under heavy rush until he ran up against the sideline and Culp had drifted into the left corner of the end zone, and then he let it fly.

Culp had wide receivers Ja'Lynn Polk and Rome Odunze between him and Penix, and wasn't sure who was the intended target.

There were no fewer than three USC defensive backs in the vicinity, putting a lot of arms in the air further complicating things.

The Husky tight end went up as high as he could, catching the ball at the very peak of his leap.

"At the last second, I saw it go over Rome's head and it was for me," Culp said. "I sucked it in and held on for dear life."

The Trojans' 6-foot-6 linebacker Eric Gentry tried to rip the ball from Culp's hands to no avail. Much of the crowd of 72,243 went stone quiet. The Huskies celebrated once they all understood that more magic in a magical season had taken place.

"It was definitely a play I'll never forget for the rest of my life," Culp said. 

UW TOP 10 PLAYS OF THE SEASON

1. TBD

2. TBD

3. TBD

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

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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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