Washington Survives What Was Nearly the Biggest Collapse in College Football History To Take Down Texas in the Sugar Bowl

I had an entire blog written and ready to just hit "Publish" when Washington kicked a field goal to go up nine points with 2:40 to go in the Sugar Bowl. The game was over. Somehow, though, we almost witnessed maybe the biggest collapse in the history of sports.

Texas went down and kicked a field goal to cut it to a one-possession game with 1:09 remaining, but then failed to recover the ensuing onside kick. The Longhorns only had two timeouts. That was all she wrote.

But an untimely injury to Washington running back Dillon Johnson stopped the clock with 0:50 left instead of running down to within 0:20 and forced the Huskies to punt with a chunk of time left for Texas. Washington then committed a kick catch interference penalty, almost making it too obvious if they had been trying to lose the game on purpose.

So now Texas had 45 seconds and the ball at the 31-yard line, hardly an impossible drive to end in a touchdown. Quinn Ewers completed a 41-yard pass to Jordan Whittington to get inside Washington territory and eventually got the Longhorns to the 13-yard line before ultimately failing to get the ball in the end zone for what would have been one of the greatest wins in college football history.

I still just can't believe Washington was within a play of losing that game. I've watched the Atlanta Falcons hundreds of times and I'm not sure I've ever seen anything lime that. A loss tonight would have put 28-3 to shame.

But at the end of the day, the Huskies found a way to escape with the win and will now square off with Michigan next Monday night with the national championship on the line. Michael Penix Jr. was outstanding tonight and I can't wait to watch him go up against the Wolverines' defense. It should be a great matchup.

Holy hell, what a finish.