Sugar Bowl: Washington hangs on to beat Texas to set up a meeting with Michigan for the national title

No. 2 Washington survived an improbable late comeback attempt to secure a 37-31 win over No. 3 Texas and a matchup with No. 1 Michigan for the national title on Jan. 8.

The Huskies outscored the Longhorns 16-10 in the second half after the teams were tied at 21-21 at halftime. Grady Gross’ third field goal of the game with 2:44 to go gave the Huskies a two-possession lead at 37-28.

But then things got interesting. Texas got a field goal with just over a minute left to cut Washington's lead to six and the Huskies recovered the onside kick. However, Washington didn't run much time off the clock because Texas had two timeouts and running back Dillon Johnson suffered an apparent foot injury on third down.

Instead of getting the ball back with about 20 seconds to go, Texas had one last chance with 45 seconds to go because the clock stopped after Johnson's injury. The Longhorns were able to get to the Washington 12-yard-line but Quinn Ewers' pass to AD Mitchell in the end zone fell incomplete as time expired.

Texas couldn’t do much to stop Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. as the Heisman runner-up had one of the best passing performances in College Football Playoff history. Penix was 29-of-38 passing for 430 yards and two touchdowns as he rifled lasers all over the field. The vaunted Washington deep passing game showed up with a vengeance on Monday night and it was apparent from Washington’s fourth play of the game when Penix hit Ja’Lynn Polk for a 77-yard catch to set up the Huskies’ first TD of the night.

After the game was tied at halftime, Washington scored 10 straight points to open the third quarter thanks to a Texas fumble. Washington scored on its first drive of the half as Jalen McMillan caught a 19-yard TD pass from Penix and then Washington added a field goal less than three minutes later after Texas RB CJ Baxter fumbled on the Longhorns’ first play of the drive.