SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Deep in the heart of Texas, the only thing that went wrong for the University of Washington football team on Thursday night at the Alamo Bowl was the season ended.
Capping a magical first-year run under Kalen DeBoer's lead, the Huskies were alternately deceptive, opportunistic and always in control as they handed the Texas Longhorns and former UW coach Steve Sarkisian a 27-20 defeat at the Alamodome.
This UW team just wanted to keep playing, continue to pile up yards and win, win, win.
Instead, these guys in the all purple uniforms went home with a glossy 11-2 record — becoming just the fifth Huskies entry to claim that many victories in a season — and ended their dazzling late-season push with a seven-game winning streak.
Quarterback Michael Penix, the cornerstone of the UW's prolific offense, was at his best on a big stage. he completed 32 of 54 passes for 287 yards and 2 touchdowns, becoming the school's all-time leading passer in a season with 4,641 yards.
With a crowd of mostly Texas fans among the 62,730 on hand, DeBoer's staff aggressively went after the Longhorns from the first play, testing their game awareness.
Penix took the snap and handed the ball to running back Wayne Taulapapa, who stopped and pitched the ball back to the Husky quarterback. Trickery was in progress.
Under a heavy rush, Penix let fly with a pass down the left sideline and Ja’Lynn Polk, one of the UW’s native Texans, came down with the ball between defenders for a 35-yard gain.
While that opening series ended with a Penix interception, with Longhorns safety Jerrin Thompson catching it on the dive at his 27, the Huskies got it right back in scoring position when linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio raced in to block Daniel Trejo's punt with both hands.
The Huskies settled for Peyton Henry's 46-yard field and a 3-0 lead with just three minutes and 16 seconds played.
The Longhorns matched that 3-pointer with one of their own, a 30-yarder by Bert Auburn, but the game wasn't tied long.
Ten plays later, Taulapapa ran through the left side of the line, stiff-armed Longhorns cornerback Ryan Watts out of the way, skipped out of a tackle at the 5 and scored standing up from 42 yards out. With 3:17 left in the opening quarter, the UW was up 10-3.
Taulapapa was his usual slippery, efficient self, rushing for 108 yards on 14 carries,
The scored stayed that way until the final play of the half, with the teams locked in a momentary defensive struggle and trading the ball six times before Henry added another field goal, this one from 24 yards. The Huskies took a 13-3 lead into the locker room.
Along the way, Penix set his record with an 11-yard pass over the middle to Rome Odunze on the way to that closing field goal. That gave the quarterback 4,460 yards, two more than Cody Pickett's 2002 record that lasted two decades.
There was still the second half to play. Penix had thrown the ball 30 times, completing 16 for 139 yards (4,493) when the teams rested.
The Huskies were without the services of sophomore running back Cam Davis, who was on the sideline in street clothes but unavailable, requiring junior Richard Newton to play a supportive rushing role. Newton ran 11 times for 44 yards.
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Texas looked rejuvenated when it came out for the second-half kickoff. The Longhorns scored in six plays, on Quinn Ewers' dump-off pass to running back Jonathon Brooks that covered 34 yards.
The UW, in particular linebacker Cam Bright, looked to have the angle on him on the sideline, but Brooks squirted away. At the 12:31 mark, the locals now trailed 13-10.
The Huskies responded by taking chances whenever and wherever they could to reclaim and enlarge their two-score cushion.
On the next series, they faced fourth-and-1 from their 32 and Penix, after moving several players around in an intricate manner, dove for 2 yards to extend the drive.
Penix capped the 13-play, 75-yard drive by sending a 6-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Taj Davis skirting past the right pylon. The UW led 20-10.
On the ensuing drive, the Huskies lost starting cornerback Jordan Perryman to an injury while he was trying to cover Texas deep threat Xavier Worthy, but they also got exceedingly lucky.
The Longhorns went right back to Worthy, who got a couple of steps on the UW's revamped coverage — and he dropped a sure touchdown pass as the partisan crowd in the Alamodome let out a loud groan.
Near the end of the third quarter, the Huskies faced fourth-and-2 from the Texas 47 and Penix deftly lobbed a flat pass to tight end Devin Culp, who rumbled 9 yards to easily pick up the first down.
The UW turned this gamble into points, as well, with Penix finding Jalen McMillan alone in the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown pass and a 27-10 advantage. There was still 13:08 remaining in the game.
Texas picked up another score from Brooks, who powered up the middle to reach the end zone from 3 yards out. With 9:50 left, the Longhorns pulled within 27-17.
With 1:40 left, they added Auburn's 26-yard field goal to creep back to 27-20.
With that, the UW ran out the clock, accepted the Alamo Bowl trophy and said good bye to 14 seniors and prepared to head home to Montlake.
They left did this knowing they had had a season for the ages and also that spring football practice was just four months away.
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