Inside The Huskies

Michigan State Victory Brings Weekly Rewards to 3 Huskies, DeBoer

Michael Penix Jr., Troy Fautanu and Ja'Lynn Polk honored by Pac-12.

Dan Raley

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The value of a decisive victory over Michigan State over the weekend keeps going up for the University of Washington football team.

A day after they re-entered the national rankings for the first time in a year, the Huskies picked up three of the six weekly Pac-12 player rewards, topped by junior quarterback Michael Penix Jr. being selected offensive player of the week, plus Kalen DeBoer accepted national recognition coming in the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week award.

Besides Penix, UW sophomore offensive tackle Troy Fautanu earned Pac-12 lineman of the week accolades and redshirt freshman wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk received freshman of the week attention.

Sharing in a 39-28 beating of a vaunted Big Ten opponent in a nationally televised game, Penix completed 24 of 40 passes for 397 yards for 4 touchdowns, with three ending up in Polk's hands. The 6-foot-3, 213-pound junior from Tampa, Florida, also likely will begin receiving Heisman Trophy mention as people see his season-long hot hand.

A Texas Tech transfer last year, Polk finished with a career-best 6 catches for 153 yards, scoring on receptions of 8, 17 and 53. He's generally considered the Huskies' No. 3 receiver, but he clearly was the top guy against Michigan State.

Fautanu, a 6-foot-4, 312-pound player capable of playing multiple positions up front, emerged as the Huskies' highest-graded lineman in an offense that churned out 503 yards of total offense and permitted no sacks for the third consecutive game. He's just the second UW player to win this award, joining former center Luke Wattenberg, who was selected in 2020 and now plays for the NFL's Denver Broncos.

DeBoer has coached his team to a 3-0 start, beating the nation's 11th-ranked team in Michigan State to bring a lot of attention to his program, with him cited by the Bobby Dodd Trophy Coach of the Year Foundation. 

“Coach DeBoer is already leaving his mark at Washington through the first three games of the season,” said Jim Terry, Dodd Foundation chairman. “Coach Dodd also had a knack for getting his teams prepared to face a higher-ranked opponent. He would have loved this win.”

The Dodd Award, given out on a weekly basis and at the end of the season, is named for the former Georgia Tech football coach from 1945 to 1966, who was credited with winning the Sugar Bowl and a national championship in 1953.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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