Posted on 01/10/2024 4:25:38 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
It was an uncharacteristic day for Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. It just also happened to be the biggest day of his collegiate career.
In college football’s season finale, Michigan vitiated Washington and the usual magnificence of Penix to claim the College Football Playoff national championship for the first time and the program’s first title since the 1997 season.
Penix went 27-of-51 passing for 255 yards and one touchdown — the only Washington TD on the night — against two interceptions. It was, statistically, a performance discouraging of complaints, but overthrown open passes and missed third-down conversions (2 for 14) muddied what could’ve been the perfect curtain call for Penix and the Pac-12 entirely. “Man, it sucks,” Penix said. “We played a good team. They did some good things. I feel like on the offensive side of the ball, we just missed a lot of opportunities, opportunities where we needed to execute the most to help our team, put our team in a better position to come out with this win.”
Penix walked into NRG Stadium in Houston as the nation’s leader in passing yards per game (332.0) and passing yards (4,648). He also averaged 13.83 yards per completion but on Monday night, Penix averaged just 5.0, proving not even he — the Huskies’ highest-ever Heisman finisher at No. 2 this season — could paper over the cracks of the Michigan defense.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Transferred from Indiana
He made a few bad throws that would have made the difference. The pros took notice. He also has injury concerns. He’ll get drafted as a ‘project’ and not a franchise cornerstone to build around.
I feel bad for Penix and Washington. The reason the passing stats were so poor compared to normal was that Michigan was grabbing Washington receiver’s jerseys on every play, slowing them down, but never called. As usual with Michigan and Harbaugh, they have to cheat to win.
I wish the Huskies would have played like that against my Ducks. Either time!
Seems like I've heard that story before.
Face reality. The bottom line is.......
Michigan won.
Poor guy looked like he was really hurting on both sides of his abdomen near the end.. but he kept pressing on.
….and yes, this was not called holding against Michigan.
he’s also 26YO and has major injury concerns
...the Huskies’ highest-ever Heisman finisher at No. 2 this season...
Right there is the problem. AA gave him the runner-up when clearly it should have gone to Bo Nix. And between Nix and Daniels, I’d say it was a deadheat on who shoulda won the award. This was my assessment after crunching all the stats. And I know I am a nobody.
Regards
The key was that the Michigan defense shout down Penix’s passing game. He’s a really good passer. More than 4600 yards this year. But he never came up against Michigan’s defense until the title game. Michigan’s defense was a defense for the ages.
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