Unbelievably, with one second left to play in the College Football Playoff semifinal contest between the Washington Huskies and the Texas Longhorns, Texas had the ball, 4^th and 10 at the Huskies 12-yard line, with a shot to win the game. The Longhorns had arrived at that down, distance and time just 14 seconds of game time earlier; the result of a series of circumstances that, for Dawgs fans, were as frustrating as they were implausible, and had us all at the verge of cardiac arrest! A few moments earlier, it seemed our guys had this win in the bag, and all loyal Huskies fans had already started reveling in advancing to the “Natty” (the new coined term for the National Championship game). And then near disaster struck. For the Huskies, despite the ardent hopes of their fans, this is starting to seem normal. They have now won ten straight games by 10 points or less, and the last five by one score. Based on this, should we have expected anything less than Washington being backed up to their own 12 with Texas one short completion away from stealing this game, with one second left to play?

While we can hope otherwise, the answer, it seems, (God help us) is no!

For most of this game, pundits and point spreads notwithstanding (#2 ranked Washington was a 4.5 point underdog to #3 ranked Texas going into this game), the Dawgs had shown they were the better of the two teams on the field. UW quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was masterful, both at moving in the pocket to avoid the ballyhooed Longhorns pass rush, and at hitting his receivers with a display of pinpoint aerial wizardry that had to be seen to be believed. When needed, time and again he sidestepped onrushing Texas defensive players to deliver downfield strikes. On one such play, late in the 2^nd quarter, the Huskies had the ball, 2^nd and 10 at the Texas 29-yard line. Penix took the snap from shotgun and almost immediately was under pressure by Longhorns edge rusher Ethan Burke, who had come through untouched from the quarterback’s left side. Ordinarily, in that situation the quarterback is dead, but Michael Penix is no ordinary quarterback. Nimbly, he merely stepped up in the pocket, leaving the on-rushing Burke sprawled on the field behind him, and delivered a 29-yard laser to Ja’Lynn Polk for the score and a 21-14 Huskies lead. On that play the Texas DB had nearly perfect position; even managing to get a fingertip on the ball, but to no avail, as the ball then deflected off Polk’s hands, up into the air, and then settled gently into those same hands as the Huskies receiver crossed the goal line. In another example, earlier in the game, the Huskies had the ball with a 2^nd and 10 at the 50-yd line. Once again in shotgun, Penix took the snap and faded back a few steps while surveying the field to throw. Suddenly, Texas’ All-American tackle, Byron Murphy, was able to shed his blocker and come straight up the middle with a clean shot at the Husky QB. With Murphy bearing down on him, Penix simply took one step to his right as the big Longhorns tackle went flying by, unable to lay even a finger on the quarterback. Unfazed, Penix then fired a dart to Odunze over the middle, who ran the ball to the Texas 26 for a 24-yd gain. Most of the time UW’s Joe Moore Award winning offensive line held their own against Texas, and gave Penix time to throw. But when they didn’t, the Huskies quarterback, with his shiftiness in the pocket, was more than equal to the task of avoiding the rush. For the game he was not sacked once by the Longhorns and, for the most part, Texas’ great defensive tackles, Murphy and Sweat, were rendered non-factors in the game. By half time I was no longer concerned about the Texas defense being able to stop the Dawgs, as it was obvious they could not. At that point Penix had thrown for over 260 yards and was pretty much able to do whatever he wanted. If the defense could manage to stop the Longhorns a few times, while the offense continued their dominance, then this game would be over and our team would be advancing to the “Natty.”

To the delight of Husky fans everywhere, in the 3^rd quarter both things just stated came to pass. Penix continued to scorch the Longhorns D, completing his first 11 passes of the half, including a 19-yard BB, perfectly thrown to Jalen McMillan in the end zone between the two Texas safeties. That made the score 28-21 Washington, with the 7-point lead becoming 10 a few moments later, after the Huskies recovered a Texas fumble on the Longhorns 33-yard line, in turn leading to a 26-yd, Grady Gross field goal. Early in the 4^th quarter the lead became 13 points when the Dawgs got another FG from Gross, this time from 40-yards out, and the sun was setting on the Longhorns’ hopes, or so we thought. For the Huskies, we should have known that it wouldn’t, or perhaps couldn’t, be that easy. On the subsequent possession, with Texas driving deep into Washington territory, our guys forced another Longhorns fumble and recovered the ball at Washington’s 24-yard line. At that point there was just over 12 minutes left in the game, and another long drive to a touchdown would simultaneously eat up clock while putting the game out of reach. But, unable to stand the prosperity, the Huskies then had their worst offensive series of the game: following three Penix incompletions they were forced to punt, giving Texas the ball at their own 28 with 11:19 left in the contest. From there it took Texas just 4 minutes to drive the length of the field to a score; the touchdown coming on a short, back shoulder throw to leaping Longhorns receiver, Adonai Mitchell, who’d beaten (barely) Dawgs corner Elijah Jackson on the play. For Jackson, the touchdown was the second time he’d been burned late in this game, the first being a 29-yd bomb earlier in the TD drive to Texas receiver Xavier Worthy to put the Longhorns in the Red Zone. Fortunately for Jackson, as we would soon witness, he would not be beaten a third time.

The Texas touchdown came at the 7:23 mark of the 4^th quarter and cut Washington’s lead to 34-28; just one score, and certainly not safe. But when, on the subsequent Dawgs possession, Penix returned to master form and drove his team to another Grady Gross field goal, thus giving Washington another two-score lead at 37-28, I thought, perhaps, I could relax. At that point there was only 2:40 left in the game and Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian had already burned one of his time outs, leaving his Longhorns just two. I didn’t know it then, but there would be no “relaxing” for me, or for any Dawgs fans, players or coaches, until the last play of this game concluded. Across the next minute and a half, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers finally began to play like we heard he could, mixing timely scrambles with accurate passing to move his team down field, all the way to the Huskies 7-yd line, where the Dawgs D stiffened and the drive stalled. Needing at least a FG AND a touchdown to win the game, Sarkisian opted to send in his kicker, and the resultant 3-pointer cut Washington’s lead to 37-31.

Still, I wasn’t worried, and I don’t think most of those true to the Purple and Gold were either. After the Texas field goal there was only 1:09 left in the game, and we all knew the Longhorns would need to execute an onside kick, which, once recovered by the Dawgs, would give our team possession with great field position. Texas still had two time outs to burn, but with just 69 seconds left in the game, even with our team unable to get a 1^st down and needing to punt, there would be just 10-15 seconds left when Ewers and co. got the ball back, hardly enough time for even a Hail Mary. Of course, that presumed the Dawgs would, indeed, recover the onside kick; and when they did, we fans thought this game was over.

Unfortunately, we fans were wrong. Decades ago the legendary sports writer for the Washington Post, Shirley Povich, in describing Bobby Thomson’s magical, walk-off home run to win the 1951 pennant for the Giants, wrote, “Hollywood writers on an opium jag could not have scripted a more improbable outcome.” In looking back at how this game ended, that’s pretty much how I feel about it. Who could have predicted what would happen? But that’s football, and that’s why we love it—I think. The first two plays of this last Huskies possession went as expected: two Dillon Johnson runs, followed by Sarkisian burning his last two time outs, thus giving the Dawgs a 3^rd down and 6 at the Longhorns 41 with 1:02 on the clock. Following the next play, with all their timeouts shot, Texas would get the ball back deep in their territory with only 10-15 seconds left; effectively the game would be over.

And then the unthinkable—after running the ball one last time, DJ didn’t get up after the play, instead remaining on the ground, writhing in pain. As the seconds ticked by, and Johnson stayed on the turf, I finally realized that the clock had been stopped by the injury, and that fate was opening the door to Longhorns redemption. Instead of watching the clock wind down to their doom, the Texas players were being given an opportunity; I could envision what was about to happen next—and it very nearly did. Making matters worse, in the subsequent Dawgs punt the Huskies long snapper, Jaden Green, was called for interfering with a fair catch—a 15-yd penalty—so instead of pinning the Longhorns deep in their end, they got the ball at their own 31, with 45 seconds left in the game!

Geez! What else can go wrong?! Even with no time outs, in football, 45 seconds can be an eternity.

Despite their good fortune, the Longhorns last possession in this game started inauspiciously, with two Ewers incompletions. Thus, with 38 seconds left Texas had a 3^rd and 10 situation at their own 31-yard line, and things weren’t looking good for them. But then Ewers took the next snap in shotgun, looked initially toward the center of the field to freeze the safety, and a split second later lofted a perfect pass deep down the right side of the field toward his wide receiver, Jordan Whittington. With the ball perfectly placed to Whittington’s outside shoulder; away from Huskies defensive back, Jabbar Muhammad, who was covering on the play, the leaping Texas wide out made the catch and fell to the ground at the Washington 28-yard line, 41 yards downfield from where the pass was launched.

OMG! What’s happening? How did Muhammad let THAT happen? Are we watching defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory? I, and millions of Dawgs fans like me, are struggling to keep the faith—we just can’t blow this game now. All season long they’ve found a way to pull these games out, they’ve just got to do it again! This is high drama, playing out in this CFP semifinal game in the Superdome, and the stakes—a trip to the National Championship game against Michigan—could not be higher!

With Texas having no time outs, neither the Huskies D, nor us fans, had much time to think about things, as the clock was ticking down—30 seconds—29 seconds—28 seconds…then Ewers gets the snap and launches another deep pass down the left side, toward Mitchell in the end zone, but Muhammad plays it well. The incompletion stops the clock with 20 seconds left, and the Huskies call a time out; the teams get a chance to regroup, and so do the fans!

A few seconds later Ewers takes the next snap—20 seconds—19 seconds—18 seconds—and completes a wheel route down the right side to his running back, Jaydon Blue, who barely makes the catch and then steps out of bounds. Did he bobble it? Was it a valid reception? The zebras say it is and the play covers 16 yards, placing the ball at the Huskies 12 with a Longhorns 1^st and 10. With Blue going out of bounds and just 15 seconds left in the game, the clock is stopped again while the play is reviewed and the reception confirmed. Now the Longhorns will have 15 seconds, forever in football time, and four shots at the end zone for the winning score. They can’t run the ball, or throw short of the goal line, as a ball carrier tackled in bounds would run out the clock and end the game. With Dawgs fans hoping, even praying, for someone, anyone, to make a play, Ewers takes the next snap—14 seconds—13 seconds—and throws a swing pass to his running back in the right flat—12 seconds—11 seconds—who catches the ball and steps out of bounds with 10 seconds left.

Throwing a pass like that in this situation is dangerous for Texas. What if the back is tackled in bounds? What was Ewers thinking? With Texas coming to the line of scrimmage for the next play, there’s no time to contemplate “what ifs”, as the moment is upon us. Ewers takes the next snap—10 seconds—9 seconds—8 seconds–he can’t find a receiver and—7 seconds—6 seconds—hurries a throw out the back of the end zone, leaving just 5 seconds on the clock.

About this time, as I’m ready to pass out, a friend texts me a message: “Someone call 911, I’m having a heart attack!” With the stadium crackling with tension, as well as my living room, my friend’s text made me smile, and thus restored, I looked to the next play and the snap of the ball—5 seconds—Ewers takes the snap and is immediately under heavy pressure from his left—4 seconds—as Dawgs blitzing safety Mish Powell has come through untouched and is closing on the quarterback like a bat out of hell! Ewers flees to his right—3 seconds—as Powell dives at his legs to bring him down. Just before hitting the turf, the Texas QB desperately flings the ball out of bounds, trying to stop the clock. But the TV clock shows 0:00—there’s no time left! Is the game over? I thought I saw a second still on the clock when the ball went out of bounds! What’s going on?

The refs have a meeting, and, as I thought I saw, they have one second put back on the clock. Can you believe this? After all that’s happened, Texas will have one more shot at the end zone, and all Dawgs fans are wishing, hoping and praying, that the guys have one last stop left in them. And then the ball is snapped, and the clock goes to 0:00…Ewers has time to scan the field, but seems fixated on his big receiver, Adonai Mitchell, who is working against Huskies cornerback Elijah Jackson in the right side of the end zone. As already noted, Jackson was victimized for a touchdown by Mitchell earlier in the game, and clearly, Ewers and Mitchell intend to do it again. This time, however, Jackson has the play right in front of him, and he’s reading the quarterback’s eyes. With the time in this game already expired, at last, a reckoning is at hand.

His decision made, Ewers lofts a throw, high, and toward Mitchell’s back shoulder, but this time, unfortunately for Texas, Jackson reads the play perfectly. Breaking on the ball and timing his leap, he elevates high above Mitchell, and as the ball descends toward them, while resting his left arm on the receiver’s shoulder, he uses his right hand to literally spike the football about 5 yards out of bounds! Once our minds discern what our eyes are seeing, Dawgs fans everywhere exhale collectively, and as our blood pressure come down, we all realize that our team has done it, and this game is over!! Our Washington Huskies have defeated the Texas Longhorns 37-31, and will now play the Michigan Wolverines for the National Championship of College football!

Can you believe it?

I’m going to enjoy this!

Go Dawgs!