Inside The Huskies

Top 10 Most Compelling Husky Plays of the Season: No. 9

A 92-yard touchdown pass to Ja'Lynn Polk went into the UW record book as the second longest.

Dan Raley

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Stanford was one of those games that likely created lingering issues for the University of Washington football team and Michael Penix Jr. 

While the Huskies won 42-33 in Palo Alto, they heard how they didn't win by enough over one of the Pac-12's weaker teams.

And while Penix threw 4 touchdown passes against the Cardinal, people took issue with his accuracy, which wasn't nearly as pinpoint as usual.

An outing like this one probably explains why the odds-makers began making the UW an underdog multiple times over and, dare we say, why Heisman Trophy voters started looking elsewhere.

Yet in an instant, the Huskies, their quarterback and receiver Ja'Lynn Polk showed why they are to be taken seriously if not feared at all times.

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. 9 is a 92-yard touchdown pass from Penix to Polk at Stanford that went into the record book as the second longest in Husky history. 

In the second quarter, to open a new drive from the UW 8, Penix took the snap, spun right and stood on the "O'" in the Stanford name painted in the end zone when he left fly with a deep ball.

"We knew we were going to take a shot being backed up and, you know, we took advantage of it," a heavily congested and spent-looking Penix said in a postgame interview.

On the other end, Polk was one of two Huskies who ran up the right hashmark before his teammate peeled off and he kept going.

A flag was thrown near the 30 when Stanford cornerback Collin Wright and Polk got tangled up and the Cardinal defender fell down.

Polk ran under the football as he crossed midfield with no one around him and easily ran into the end zone. A lot of people immediately assumed offensive pass interference would be called. A loud groan went up from the home fans when the officials said the defense was the guilty party and the touchdown would stand.

 

"Ja'Lynn Polk did a great job of fighting off a guy trying to hold him and pull him down," Penix said. "He made a big-time play."

Only Marcel Reece's 98-yard scoring catch against Arizona in 2007 is longer in 134 seasons of Husky football. 

For Polk, he's been good for a long touchdown catch in each of his four college seasons at two schools.

As a freshman at Texas Tech in 2020, he caught a 60-yard scoring pass against TCU.

For the Huskies in the following season, Polk went 55 yards for a score against Colorado in Boulder with a Dylan Morris pass.

In 2022, Polk caught a 53-yard TD catch against Michigan State at home and a 76-yarder against Oregon in Eugene, both from Penix.

A 92-yarder against Stanford was business as usual for Penix, who said, "That's stuff we rep every day in practice and you see it every week."

UW TOP 10 PLAYS OF THE SEASON

1. TBD

2. TBD

3. TBD

4. TBD

5. TBD

6. TBD

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8. TBD

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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