The finality of the Pac-12 is miserable. The Washington Huskies beat the Oregon Ducks, 34-31, on Friday evening, and seemed like a title contender doing it. Michael Penix had his full array of receivers, with Jalen McMillan returning to seize 9 balls for 131 yards. Husky working again Dillon Johnson added 151 on the bottom for 2 scores, and threw a landing as properly.
It was the sort of season for the convention, and for Washington, that might make for a nice column. Something alongside the strains of, “OK, Washington, now don’t embarrass yourself.” This is the convention’s first College Football Playoff berth since UW received there in 2017, however actually the league’s finest shot at a natty since Marcus Mariota vs. Cam Newton in 2010.
It’s additionally the Pac-12’s final shot. Let’s see if the Conference of Champions can exit on prime, and additional disgrace the grasping universities for destroying a a part of faculty athletics. The defining trait of Kalen DeBoer’s group on Friday was steadiness.
Solid working and passing sport, and the protection held the Ducks in verify for a lot of the primary half. They received a cease when it mattered most within the fourth quarter that allowed Johnson and Penix to go on a 12-play, 82-yard landing drive that took six minutes off the clock. The rating put Washington forward by 10 with lower than three minutes remaining.
It solely took Bo Nix two performs to reply but Oregon couldn’t get the onside kick, or a cease, for a final gasp. The end result ensures Washington a spot within the CFP, and makes the one-loss squads a little sweatier.
Dan Lanning didn’t even completely blow it for Oregon. Anyone who thought the Ducks had been the higher group coming into the matchup doesn’t have an argument. Washington performed the very best the convention has to supply, and received each occasions.
It takes a powerful group to get via a Power Five schedule with out faltering. Washington is filled with six-year gamers, and the poise that solely comes with expertise has been on show all season. This was UW’s seventh win in one-score video games, and whoever attracts Penix within the CFB is getting the very best, most skilled sign caller remaining.
I haven’t talked about Rome Odunze, who is each bit nearly as good as Marvin Harrison Jr. The Huskies are stacked, and so they higher know what’s at stake. They’re the final hope of a dying convention. Next season, the good homogenization begins, however the Pac-12 has its champion — one who’s leaving for the Big Ten.
Regardless, the Huskies are nonetheless within the Pac-12, so please, Washington, don’t embarrass your self.
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