Washington beat Texas 27-20 to win the Valero Alamo Bowl. What happened, who was the player of the game, and what does it all mean?
Washington 27, Texas 20 Valero Alamo Bowl What Happened, Player of the Game, What It All Means
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Valero Alamo Bowl What Happened
– Michael Penix Jr. threw two touchdown passes in the second half, Wayne Taulapapa ran for a 42-yard score in the first quarter, and Washington took a 27-10 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Texas struggled to get the offense going, but it was able to pull within seven after scoring ten unanswered points. The final Longhorn drive stalled at midfield on a long pass.
– Helped by that long bomb that ran out the clock, Texas QB Quinn Ewers finished with 369 yards with a touchdown pass to Jonathon Brooks, but too many drives stalled. There were a few crisp scoring marches, but two ended in field goals and there wasn’t enough consistency.
– Fourth downs mattered. Washington is always pushing the ball deep, but Penix Jr. was able to come through on some of the shorter plays. too. He and the Huskies were good at keeping the chains moving – going 2-of-3 on fourth downs – and Texas was also able to connect on two fourth down tries. Washington was able to do more with its conversions.
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Valero Alamo Bowl Player of the Game
Bralen Trice, DE Washington
The offensive parts for Washington were great, but Trice headed a terrific effort for the much-maligned defense with a team-tying six tackles with two sacks.
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Valero Alamo Bowl Fun Stats
– Michael Penix Jr. completed 32-of-54 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns with a pick. Wayne Taulapapa ran 14 times for 108 yards and a score.
– Texas QB Quinn Ewers completed 31-of-47 passes for 369 yards and a touchdowns. He was plagued by a slew of drops.
– Third down conversions: Washington 11-of-20 – Texas 6-of-15. Washington held the ball for almost 36 minutes.
Valero Alamo Bowl What It All Means
For all of the good things Texas was able to do, and even though it closed the regular season winning three of its last four games, it was bowl loss in what was essentially a home game.
After failing to get to a bowl last year, this was the chance for a reset. Steve Sarkisian was going to get a being win, the program was going to go into 2023 with a ton of momentum, and instead, Washington had the bombs away attack and fun offense Texas was supposed to.
With this loss, the streak of four straight bowl wins is broken – it was the first loss since 2014 – and Sarkisian is now 2-3 in bowls. He was 1-2 as the head man at Washington.
Of course it would’ve been nice if Washington didn’t gack away a loss to Arizona State and could’ve played in the Pac-12 Championship with a College Football Playoff berth on the line, but going 11-2 with an Alamo Bowl win over Texas is a really, really nice first year run under head coach Kalen DeBoer.
It’s the first season with 11 or more wins since Chris Petersen took the Huskies to the College Football Playoff in 2016, and it helped the overall bowl run. It’s the first bowl appearance since winning the 2019 Las Vegas, and now the program is 2-3 in these since 2015.
Even bigger, Washington knows just how good it can be under this head coach in this offense. This might be just the beginning.
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