SEATTLE — Heading into the fourth quarter of Saturday’s close, highly intense Washington-Oregon game, the PA at Husky Stadium blared the most famous hit from arguably Seattle’s most famous band: Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
That song came out in 1991. Which happens to be the same year Washington football won its lone national championship.
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One quarter later, after a frantic last-minute comeback, a sprinkling of rain, a missed field goal at the end and field-storming that turned a green field purple, the 2023 Huskies have turned winning another national championship into a realistic goal.
No. 7 Washington 36, No. 8 Oregon 33 was more than just a dramatic rivalry game, more than just a midseason top-10 clash, more than just a duel of Heisman-caliber quarterbacks. It was the biggest regular-season game on the West Coast in a decade. It was an absolute classic.
I have had the fortune to to cover a lot of classic college football games over the last 25 years.
2023 Washington Oregon goes as close to the top of the list as the distance of the Bush Push.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) October 14, 2023
Either team could have won it, right down to the final second, when Oregon kicker Camden Lewis’ 43-yard field goal sailed right. But Washington did. And any team that could win a test this fierce has to be taken seriously as a candidate to win the whole thing.
“I know there was a question out there — because I know we took it to heart — how tough we are,” Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said afterward. “I think we’re pretty dang tough. We’re going to grind you with the best of them.”
It’s been nearly 20 years since a West Coast team took home college football’s top prize. (It was USC in 2004.) Since then, the SEC has come to rule the sport, with an occasional pop-in from the ACC or Big Ten. The top four teams, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Florida State, all reside in those parts. Those programs all won their games Saturday by between 17 and 38 points.
So why put any confidence in a team from the Pacific Northwest to infiltrate their exclusive neighborhood?
Because Washington has Michael Penix Jr., and those guys don’t.
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“Mike, I can’t say enough about that guy,” Washington offensive lineman Roger Rosengarten said. “I don’t see why he’s not the front-runner for the Heisman.”
He will be now.
The sixth-year senior and Indiana transfer entered Saturday leading the nation in passing yards per game and No. 3 in pass efficiency. He’d thrown at least four touchdowns in three of his first five games.
But it’s one thing to watch him do it against Boise State, Michigan State and Cal, opponents that Washington might have beaten with any number of other quarterbacks. It was another to watch him connect with his ridiculous group of receivers for another four touchdowns, and this time against a top-10 team. All of them were works of art. There was the pump fake, then 26-yard dart to a streaking Giles Jackson on his second drive. Later that quarter, a perfect shoulder fade to Ja’Lynn Polk, who beat his man one-on-one for another 26-yard score. And in the third quarter, he lofted one 17 yards to his No. 1 guy, Rome Odunze, who caught it just in front of his defender.
Washington needed all of these, as it spent most of the afternoon trading shots and changing leads with Bo Nix and the Ducks.
And then the Huskies really, really needed one more.
Just when hope was starting to drain out of the stadium, with Oregon holding the ball and a 33-29 lead for most of the fourth quarter, Ducks coach Dan Lanning inexplicably attempted his third fourth-and-short of the game, this one barely across midfield. Nix’s pass fell incomplete, handing the ball back to Penix.
Big mistake. Especially since Oregon had lost its top two cornerbacks to injury by then.
First play: 35 yards to Polk to get into the red zone.
Very next play: A shot straight down the sideline to Odunze, who beat Oregon cornerback Trikweze Bridges to the end zone for a go-ahead score that almost happened too fast. Odunze, soon to be a high-round NFL Draft pick, said afterward, “That was a check play; (Penix) kind of gave me the head nod to do what I had to do. It was solid coverage, but for me, I’m always open.” Odunze has 40 catches for 736 yards in six games.
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Penix finished the game 22-of-37 for 302 yards, four touchdowns and one uncharacteristic pick. But Washington didn’t beat Oregon solely because Penix was throwing darts.
The Huskies hadn’t run the ball much coming into this one. They showed Saturday they can do it when needed. Dillon Johnson carried 20 times for 100 yards and a score. He started hot, carrying 13 yards around left end, but also had plenty of straight-ahead bulldoze runs as well.
And of course, Washington wouldn’t have won without its defense.
It’s not that Washington shut down Oregon by any means. The Ducks gained 541 yards and pieced together four touchdown drives. Nix was 33-of-44 for 337 yards and two TDs. Bucky Irving ran for 127 yards and a score.
But Washington got enough stops that Oregon found itself on three occasions trying to convert fourth downs. Each time, the Huskies held. The first two were quickly forgotten after the Ducks still managed to turn a 29-18 deficit into a 33-29 lead.
But then came the fateful end of Oregon’s penultimate possession. First, on third-and-2 from the Washington 46 with 2:16 left, Huskies defensive lineman Ulumoo Ale blew through the line to stuff Ducks running back Jordan James for a 1-yard loss. On fourth-and-3, with Washington out of timeouts and facing certain defeat if Oregon converted, Washington cornerback Mishael Powell squeezed off Nix’s passing lane as he rolled to the left, his pass falling incomplete.
“I think the defense gets sick of me letting the offense go for it on fourth down in the spring ball scrimmages and the fall scrimmages,” DeBoer said. “But here we are.”
DeBoer, now 17-2 in his short but remarkable Washington tenure, leaped his way into the postgame news conference to hug Penix, who had taken the podium first. His evident excitement continued throughout his own interview.
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“There’s nothing more special as a football coach to see these guys enjoying this moment we had out there,” he said. “These guys are going to remember this forever. These are the ones they’re going to talk about at the reunions. Whatever happens the rest of the season, that will add to it.”
What happens the rest of the season will depend on how well Washington handles its newfound role as the clear Pac-12 favorite, given the preseason favorite, USC, has exhibited some less-than-favorable tendencies. The Huskies will have to visit Caleb Williams and the Trojans on Nov. 4, beginning a four-game season-ending gantlet against ranked teams Utah, Oregon State and Washington State.
And they could meet the Ducks again if they make it to Las Vegas.
But the Pac-12 is so deep, and with so many ranked teams, that whichever one wins it — even if that team loses along the way — is likely to make the College Football Playoff. And the team most suited to do it is the one with Michael Penix.
(Photo: Alika Jenner / Getty Images)
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