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Washington unintentionally tried to give the game away, but held on for a 37-31 win in Sugar Bowl over Texas to advance to the championship game against Michigan. Both teams are 14-0. The College Football Playoff National Championship Game will take Monday night, January 8, in Houston, Texas.
The Huskies could have burned most of the clock if they had lined up in victory formation on their final possession, but continued to hand off the football. No one fumbled but Dillon Johnson was injured on 3rd down to stop the clock with 50 seconds left. Then the long snapper ran into the punt returner and gave Texas an extra 15 yards to start a last-gasp drive at its own 31.
The Longhorns were able to get to the Washington 12 before consecutive pass plays went awry and the Huskies could finally celebrate.
The PAC-12 gets a team in the national title game for the first time since the first CFP playoff season in 2014 when Oregon lost to Ohio State. Ironically, it comes as the PAC-12 is set to disappear as we know it in 2024 with 10 teams bolting for either the Big 12 or the Big Ten.
Texas fought back from 7-point deficits three times in the first half and the teams were knotted at 21 at halftime. Washington opened up a 34-21 lead with 14:51 left in the game, but the Longhorns pulled to within 34-28 with 7:23 to go. A third Grady Gross FG made it 37-28 before Texas returned the favor with a Bert Auburn 25-yarder with just 1:09 left.
Washington recovered the onside kick and Texas had used both of its remaining timeouts before Johnson was injured on the 3rd down rushing attempt. A kneel down would have pushed the game clock under 20 seconds, but the rushing attempt and resulting injury halted play with 50 seconds to go.
Michael Penix Jr. was 29-of-38 for 430 yards and 2 TD's for the Huskies, and ran 3 times for 31 yards. Rome Odunze and Ja'Lynn Polk, who were both 1,000-yard receivers during the regular season, had 100-yard games as Odunze had 6 catches for 125 yards, and Polk had 5 for 122 and a TD.
For Texas, Quinn Ewers was 24-of-43 for 218 and a TD, and rushed 8 times for 54 yards.
Washington earned a 3rd straight bowl win while Texas lost its second in-a-row.
Prior to the Sugar Bowl, Michigan won the Rose Bowl, 27-20 in overtime, as Blake Corum ran twice for 25 yards on the first possession of the extra period and scored from from 17 yards out on the second attempt. Then, the Michigan defense stuffed Jalen Milroe on a 4th-and-3 rushing attempt to advance to the College Football Playoff national championship game.
Corum's 56th career rushing touchdown puts him on top of the list in Michigan history. The Wolverines trailed 20-13 with 4:41 to play after Will Reichard's 52-yard field goal completed a 13-point 'Bama run. Reichard started that stretch with a 50-yarder and Jase McClellan added a 3-yard TD run in the middle of it. But J.J. McCarthy led a 75-yard, 8-play drive to set up a 4-yard toss to Roman Wilson for the tying score with 1:34 remaining.
'Bama then went 5-and-out and a fumbled punt was saved by the Michigan return man at the 1 to prevent disaster. The Wolverines ran out the clock and proceeded to overtime. The win is Michigan's first-ever in the history of the national playoff format. Michigan ended a traditional 6-bowl losing streak while Alabama had its traditional 8-bowl winning streak snapped.