How Penix's 20-for-20 Streak Against Michigan State Played Out

At Indiana, the quarterback had his way against the Spartans, but didn't win.

For Michael Penix Jr., it was drop and give me 20.

Three years ago, in a pre-pandemic college football performance they still talk about with awe and reverence across the Midwest, such as this week on the afternoon drive for The Game on 730 AM in Lansing, Michigan, Penix couldn't miss.

The then-Indiana quarterback now at the University of Washington played an incredible game of H-O-R-S-E at Michigan State. 

No, Penix went to the county fair and knocked over so many milk bottles he won all kinds of stuffed animals.

Check that, for two quarters of a Big Ten football matchup, the left-hander tossed a perfect game, where everything he delivered hit the strike zone.

What Penix actually did in real time on a football field was complete 20 consecutive passes against the then 25th-ranked Spartans — coming up two shy of the conference record — in an amazing display of football accuracy.

His heroics enabled the underdog Hoosiers to tie a late September shootout in East Lansing at 31-31 with two minutes left to play. It wasn't quite enough as Indiana gave up a go-ahead field goal and botched a trick play on the game's final snap that brought an end-zone fumble and a gimme touchdown for a 40-31 setback.

Whew, that was frantic.

Yet Penix, so unassuming and caught up in the competitive moment, had no idea what he had done until someone told him in the postgame.

It was moments like this, with Kalen DeBoer on the Indiana staff and acting like an air-traffic controller in the booth that day, that led Penix to follow the coach to Washington, where together they will face Michigan State on Saturday at Husky Stadium.

“During that game, I didn’t even know until they came up and told me," Penix said of the streak. "I’m just out there playing, having fun. Coach DeBoer was the offensive coordinator that year, and he was dialing it up. It was definitely great.”

Said DeBoer, "It was one of those games where Mike was just on."

Penix's streak began midway through the second quarter and didn't end until his first pass of the fourth quarter. It lasted five series in all. It involved six receivers. It produced a touchdown and a field goal. The Hoosiers interspersed nine runs among the successful passes to keep Michigan State honest.

Seven of his completions went to Whop Philyor, a wide receiver since graduated whose nickname came from his love of Burger King's Big Whopper, and who, like Penix, arrived at Indiana from Tampa, Florida.

Penix kept it short and snappy throughout this 2019 exercise in excellence.

His completed passes went for, in order, 5, 9, 5, 16, 28, 7, 3, 9, 13, 11, 25, 5, 8, 3, 0, 3, 18, 12, 7 and 1 yards. 

The streak finally came to an end on a second-and-9 pass at the Michigan State 12 that Penix delivered to Ty Fryfogle, who still caught it but was ruled just out of bounds.

On the next play, Penix began a new streak with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Donavan Hale for a 24-21 Indiana lead.

Penix finished his extraordinary afternoon by completing 33 of 42 passes for 286 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions. 

While he was entertained by this week's media look into his Big Ten past, the quarterback quickly shifted the conversation back to the present. 

“It’s not about that,” Penix said. “It’s about this team, going out and having fun with these guys, making sure I’m prepared at a high level and going out there and executing. It’s definitely a great opportunity."

The Spartans are coming to town and he didn't beat them that day when he was red hot. However, he orchestrated a 24-0 victory over Michigan State the following year by completing no more than seven passes in a row.

Penix wants to win again and the Husky quarterback knows he won't have to be perfect to do it.

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