DeBoer: Huskies ‘weren’t that far off’ in CFP loss

Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff WriterJan 9, 2024, 01:12 AM ET
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- Covers the Pac-12.
- Joined ESPN in 2014.
- Attended Washington State University.

HOUSTON — Even after No. 2 Washington fell short in Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship game, losing 34-13 to Michigan, Huskies coach Kalen DeBoer left convinced his team was good enough to win the title.

“I know what the score looks like, but I feel like that fine line was right there again tonight and we weren’t that far off,” DeBoer said. “There’s not a doubt in my mind that we have a good enough football team to go out there and win a national championship and just got to make a play here and there, get us over the hump and could have been a different outcome.”

After Washington fell behind 17-3 early in the second quarter, there was a sense inside NRG Stadium that Michigan was on its way to a rout. The Wolverines’ running game appeared unstoppable, while their defense prevented quarterback Michael Penix Jr. from finding any sort of a rhythm.

But the Huskies stemmed the tide. They cut the deficit to a touchdown heading into halftime and were set to receive the kick to start the second half. For as one-sided as the game had been to that point — with Michigan averaging 12.3 yards per rush — Washington had reason to be optimistic.

It wasn’t an unusual position for the Huskies to be in. They rarely trailed all season, but their final 10 wins of the season — from Oct. 1 on — were all close in the second half. It had instilled a belief they could come up with a big play when it mattered most.

This time, though, it didn’t happen.

“They’re a good team. We just didn’t execute in the moments when we needed to,” Penix said. “It’s just about executing. I don’t feel like they did anything — I feel like we beat ourselves.

“And there were times we definitely had opportunities to make big-time plays, to make the game a lot different.”

Penix, who finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting this season and has been a revelation in his two seasons since transferring from Indiana, put the blame on himself. He threw an interception on UW’s first play of the second half, leading to a Michigan field goal, and — other than one field goal drive — was held in check the rest of the way.

Four times in the second half, UW had the ball trailing by one score, and none of those drives resulted in points. “I think even just a two-score game, it has happened a couple times over the last two seasons,” DeBoer said. “And I keep telling them the game’s going to come back to them, and putting one more score on the board is always going to put pressure on the team because they know what we’re capable of.

“We just couldn’t make that one play here, and when we did, a penalty, maybe bringing the play back, a holding call, things like that. We just couldn’t get over the hump. We couldn’t finish the drive the way that we’re used to.”

Much of that is a credit to Michigan, which finished the season with the nation’s best scoring defense (10.4 points per game). The Wolverines got consistent pressure on Penix, and when they did, he was just 5-of-16 for 67 yards with a pair of interceptions.

Penix finished the game 27-of-51 for 255 yards, which was his third-fewest passing yards in a game this season. However, it was also the second-most passing yards the Wolverines allowed this season, behind the 271 they allowed to Ohio State.

The Huskies were in near-desperation mode when Penix threw his second interception — down 14 on fourth-and-13 with 4:29 left — and were completely sunk after Mike Sainristil returned it 81 yards to the Washington 8, allowing Blake Corum to score two plays later.

Washington (14-1), playing in its final game as a Pac-12 school before departing for the Big Ten next season, had been attempting to win its first national championship since 1991, when it shared the title with Miami. The Huskies’ national-best 21-game winning streak also ended.