Washington beats Texas 37-31 in Sugar Bowl to advance to College Football Playoff national championship
The Washington Huskies defeated the Texas Longhorns 37-31 to advance to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
At some points, it looked like the first half of the Sugar Bowl would be a complete shootout between two high powered offenses. However, the defenses had something to say about that.
Eventually, Washington was too much in the third quarter and held serve throughout the fourth.
Here’s how it all broke down in the second CFP semifinal of the night as the Huskies will take on Michigan next week for the title.
1st quarter: Washington 7, Texas 7
Following a punt on Texas’ first possession, Washington struck first in the CFP semi. Michael Penix Jr. drove Washington down in a hurry.
That included a 77 yard completion to Ja’Lynn Polk to the Texas two-yard line. On the next play, Dillon Johnson punched it in for the touchdown and 7-0 lead.
That’s when Texas responded. On a seven-play, 75-yard drive, a Quinn Ewers 36 yard completion to CJ Baxter highlighted the drive. It was capped off with a Jaydon Blue touchdown from five yards out, tying things up 7-7.
From there, defense took over. Both the Longhorns and Huskies forced punts before Washington got the ball back.
To end the first quarter, Penix Jr. drove the Huskies 57 yards in five plays to the Texas 23-yard line as the clock hit all zeros and they flipped sides of the field.
2nd quarter: Washington 21, Texas 21
It took four plays, but Johnson punched it in for the Washington lead, 14-7, with 13:08 to go in the half. But then, Texas would respond.
It wasn’t conventional, but Texas was forced to punt. However, Huskies return man Germie Bernard muffed the punt and the Longhorns landed on the football.
Three plays later, Byron Murphy II ran it in for a one yard score and Texas tied things up 14-14 with 10:08 to go in the half.
Then things got really interesting. Washington drove from its own 25, which included a 52-yard reception from Rome Odunze, to the Texas 14. But Johnson was stuffed on a 4th-and-1 call and the Huskies turned it over on downs.
The Longhorns could not take advantage as they punted after just four plays. Late in the half, Washington started moving again.
The Huskies meticulously moved up the field and went for it on 4th-and-1 again from their own 33-yard line. After converting, Washington moved into Texas territory and had a 2nd-and-5 from the Longhorns’ 45 yard line with 2:17 left.
A couple of plays later, Penix Jr. fired a strike to Polk, who caught a 29-yard touchdown off a deflection in the air right in the end zone. The Huskies took a 21-14 lead with 1:27 left in the half.
But that was more than enough time for Ewers and the Longhorns offense. On a 10-play, 72-yard drive, the Texas quarterback made timely throws and a nice run as well.
He ran 21 yards to the Washington seven and absorbed a late hit in the latter portion of the drive. Baxter punched it in during the next play to tie things up at 21-21.
3rd quarter: Washington 31, Texas 21
Penix Jr. led the Huskies right down the field in eight plays and 70 yards. It was capped off with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Jalen McMillan to go up 28-21.
On the ensuing drive, Texas could not respond. During the first play of Texas’ third quarter trek, Baxter fumbled and the Huskies recovered.
Washington’s next drive stalled after 24 yards and the Huskies settled for a field goal and a 31-21 lead with 7:44 to go in the third.
But Texas had no answers on the next drive, going four plays and just 21 yards before punting once again. That’s when the Huskies continued the third quarter domination.
Penix Jr. and Washington ran 10 more plays for 63 yards down to the Texas 18-yard line before the quarter expired.
4th quarter: Washington wins 37-31
Washington finished off the aforementioned drive with two plays in the fourth quarter and took a 34-21 lead on a 40 yard field goal from Grady Gross.
As soon as it looked like Texas would gain some momentum back, Blue coughed off the football off the backside of a teammate deep in Washington territory.
But luckily for Texas, its defense forced a punt after four plays to get the ball back with a little over 11 minutes to go in the game.
But then Texas’ defense forced a punt and the offense woke up and got it going. Ewers led a 10-play, 72-yard drive in 3:56 for a touchdown.
He found AD Mitchell on a goal line fade for the score to cut the lead 34-28 with 7:23 left in the ball game, but the Huskies wouldn’t go away quietly.
On a 10-play, 65-yard drive, Penix Jr. bled the clock and led the Huskies to another Gross field goal to go up 37-28, and most importantly two scores, with 2:40 left.
Up against it, Texas drove 68 yards in 1:30 but had to settle for a field goal, needing two scores with just two timeouts. Bert Auburn connected from 25 yards out to cut the lead 37-31 and the Longhorns attempted an onside kick shortly thereafter.
Washington recovered, but it did not travel 10 yards anyway. Washington ran two plays and Texas burnt its last two timeouts. With 1:02 on the clock, Washington had a 3rd-and-5 on the Longhorns’ 39.
Johnson took a handoff and was stopped short but was injured on the play. Because of that, the clock stopped and Texas elected to not use the 10-second run off.
Washington was forced to punt but committed two penalties: a false start and then kick-catch interference.
Texas began its drive at its own 31-yard line. After two incompletions, Ewers found Jordan Whittington for 41 yards to the Washington 28-yard line.
Then, Ewers laid a dime to Blue for a 16-yard gain, reeling in a bobble with one foot in bounds. It was called a catch on the field and after review, the call stood. Then, with five seconds left, Ewers and Texas faced 3rd-and-11 from the Washington 13.
Ewers was pressured and threw an incomplete pass and the refs had to clarify and put one second back on the clock for one final play. However, Ewers couldn’t find Mitchell on the final play of the game in the corner of the end zone, sending the Huskies to the national title game.