Livescore
No. 7 Washington stormed back late in the fourth quarter to take down No. 8 Oregon and grab control of the Pac-12 title race with a 36-33 win at home. Michael Penix Jr. added to his case for the Heisman Trophy, not just with 302 passing yards and four touchdowns but by engineering the game-winning touchdown drive after Oregon had failed to convert on a fourth down late in the game near midfield. It took Penix just two incredible passes to move the ball 53 yards down the field and find the end zone against a Ducks defense that had kept the Huskies in check for much of the second half.
Penix and star wide receiver Rome Odunze identified a matchup advantage in the coverage before the snap and capitalized on it for an 18-yard score that ultimately proved to be the game-winner. Odunze’s performance comes as no surprise; he’s served as Penix’s favorite target throughout the season and again on Saturday with eight catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns. When fellow wide receiver Jalen McMillan was knocked out of the game with an injury early, he and the rest of the receiving room stepped up and answered the call.
Driving half of the field for a game-winning touchdown in a top-10 battle is the sign of a mature and resilient team that now has cemented itself as a College Football Playoff contender with one of the best wins in the country. Washington’s offense had just been stopped near the goal line on fourth down earlier in the fourth quarter but was not deterred when the defense gave them another opportunity to go and win the game.
“We just know we’ve gotta keep fighting,” Washington coach Kaelen DeBoer said after the game. “We’ve been tested many times, and we just know how we’re going to respond and how we’re going to keep fighting.”
There will be plenty of Oregon fans reviewing whether the three fourth-down attempts — all of which failed — were the right decisions. Oregon coach Dan Lanning has long stood strong on the ideals of Oregon being an aggressive football team, and his decisions on both fourth down and 2-point tries have remained consistent throughout the season.
But in a game that ended on a failed field goal attempt from 43 yards to tie the game, all of those decisions at the margins are going to get a second look. Oregon out-gained Washington by more than 100 yards (541-415), had more first downs (32-24) and clearly had the chance to ice the game late after playing winning football for much of the second half. In the end, it was Penix and Washington who delivered the statement plays in the biggest moments of this clash between Pac-12 title contenders.
1. Lanning stands by almost all of those fourth-down calls
Lanning stood firm on his decision to go for it on fourth down instead of taking a chip-shot field goal right before halftime when interviewed by ESPN heading into the locker room, but after losing by three points on a game-ending missed field goal, he had a different tone in the postgame press conference. According to The Oregonian, Lanning pointed to that fourth-down try as one to revisit.
“The one before half is where you can say take that field goal,” Lanning acknowledged, but defended the decisions near midfield late in the fourth quarter that set up Washington for the game-winning drive. Short-yardage situations should be winning moments for this Oregon team, but still he declared that the game was “100% on me.” — Patterson
2. Penix gets his Heisman moment
Looking back at the legends of college football who have won the most prestigious individual award in the sport, they all have one thing in common: a Heisman moment. After Saturday, Michael Penix Jr. now has one. Not only that, he is the first of all the potential Heisman Trophy contenders to deliver a signature moment this season. With his team trailing by four points in the final two minutes of the game, Penix made two of the biggest throws of his career. The first was a 35-yard completion to Ja’Lynn Polk before the 18-yard game-winner to Odunze — a moment that could go down as one of the most iconic plays in Washington history if the Huskies run the table and reach the College Football Playoff.
Penix played a majority of the second half not at 100%, but it didn’t matter. He was only on the field for 33 seconds of the final 6:33 in regulation, but he made every second count. Washington faces USC in Los Angeles on Nov. 4, and a showdown with reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams could loom large for his chances to win the award. — Salerno
3. Washington thrust into the conversation of CFP contenders
The Huskies’ closest thing to a “good win” was a road victory at Michigan State, which in many years is a quality victory. It might not count for much this season, though. Now Washington has a win against a top-10 opponent that might not fall that far in the rankings given how close the game was. Considering the quality of this Oregon team, it’s likely the victory will continue to hold weight throughout the season.
The more interesting postgame approach is to consider the case of this strong Oregon squad and what it will take to battle back into the Pac-12 championship and College Football Playoff picture. The Ducks still have Washington State, Utah, USC and Oregon State left on the schedule with no wiggle room in terms of avoiding a second loss in conference play. But if Oregon can navigate that treacherous path, there could be an opportunity for revenge on the first weekend in December. A win in the Pac-12 title game, combined with all the other victories it took to get there, should be enough for the CFP selection committee.
As for Washington, this is the first of what needs to be several stellar showings if the Huskies are to finish the season with an undefeated record. USC, Utah, Oregon State and Washington State are the final four opponents of the season, and like Oregon it faces the potential of slipping up against one of those top-end Pac-12 teams late in the year. What Penix and the Huskies have shown with their resilience says such a path does not intimidate this team because every game that is a dogfight is one that Washington has the dogs to win. — Patterson
4. Bo Nix played well enough to win this football game
While the record will retain a loss for Nix as starting quarterback, this falls far from the “Road Bo” reputation that followed him during his time at Auburn. Nix completed 33 of 44 passes for 337 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers, which is a better completion percentage and less turnovers than Penix. He delivered almost as many clutch throws as his Washington counterpart, and at one point in the second half completed 13 of 14 passes. Nix will have more chances to prove his candidacy for individual awards against the aforementioned gauntlet of quality opponents, but for this weekend there remains frustration that “Road Bo” played well enough to win on the road yet ends up on the losing end of a duel with Penix for the second year in a row. — Patterson
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