Pressuring Penix problematic for Texas' highly touted defensive line at the Sugar Bowl

Updated Jan. 2, 2024 5:58 a.m. ET

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Texas defensive line anchored by two of the top tackles in the nation considered its College Football Playoff semifinal matchup with Washington at the Sugar Bowl as an opportunity to — as All-American T'Vondre Sweat put it — “get our respect.”

To succeed, they had to get to prolific Huskies quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

They couldn't.

Washington's offensive line, winners of the Joe Moore Award that honors the best blocking unit in the country, kept the Longhorns at bay in the Huskies' 37-31 triumph on Monday night. Penix had time to accurately unload the type of deep throws at which Washington has been spectacularly adept all season.

“Our guys were fighting with the pass rush. We couldn’t put enough pressure on the tackles, quite frankly, to get a holding call to even get them off schedule,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “They really played on schedule all night, and that makes it difficult.”

Sweat and second-team All-American Byron Murphy II struggled to even disrupt Penix, never mind sack him.

Penix completed a handful of passes longer than 20 yards, including two longer than 50, en route to 430 yards and two touchdowns passing without committing a turnover or tacking a sack.

“It was a great opponent and I wish them the best of luck,” Sweat said repeatedly when asked about the matchup with Washington's offensive line or the difficulty of getting his hands on Penix.

“If you play D-line, anybody would say it's frustrating, you know," Sweat said. "But you can't really do too much about it but just keep working and go to the next play.”

The biggest highlight for Murphy came on offense when Texas handed the ball to him for a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

The Longhorns entered the game ranked third nationally against the run, allowing just 80.8 yards per game.

Washington rushed for 102 and scored two times on the ground. But it was Penix's passing that really did Texas in.

He was 29 of 38 (76%), and looked comfortable surveying the field more often than not.

His second pass of the game went for 77 yards to Ja'Lynn Polk, setting up the game's first touchdown one play later, and setting the tone for tone for what kind of night it would be for the Texas defense.

When the Longhorns had pulled to 34-28 in the fourth quarter and urgently needed a defensive stop, Penix hit leading Washington receiver Rome Odunze for 32 yards down the left sideline to the Texas 10-yard line.

When Grady Gross hit his third field goal of the game from 27 yards out, Texas was down by two scores again at 37-28 with just 2:40 to.

The Longhorns still nearly pulled it out with a field goal of their own and a frantic drive to the Washington 12 with 15 seconds left before stalling out.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

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