Inside The Huskies

Odunze Did It All In Overly Dominant Performance Against Cal

The Huskies' junior receiver notched another 100-yard receiving game on Saturday night to open Pac-12 play.

Lars Hanson

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Trying to pick out Rome Odunze's most memorable play in Washington's 59-32 victory over the California Bears on Saturday night could have kept you up all night, sort of like that lightning storm that terrorized the football game  between these teams four years earlier.

On the second series of this game, Odunze did his best impression of super NFL return man Devin Hester, someone he he used to watch over and over, with his 83-yard punt runback for a touchdown.

"I was just in the mindset of making a play," he said of his return, the Huskies's first for a score in four seasons. "When you're in that mindset, good things happen."

Odunze next got behind the Bears secondary to haul in a 44-yard bucket shot from Michael Penix Jr., sliding on his knees to haul in the ball.

Take your pick, but his best play of the evening might have been his 35-yard touchdown catch when he beat a pair of Cal defenders to the ball with 39 seconds left in the opening half.

The throw was all Penix. The improvisation was all Odunze.

“See, I threw him out of the break,” Penix said. “He’s just a great football player so he adjusted to it. That wasn’t his route. I just saw the field and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of field over there,’ and I know that he’s going to make the play.”

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The completion enabled Odunze to post his fourth consecutive 100-yard receiving game to start the season, giving him 112 of his 125 receiving yards before intermission against the Golden Bears.

Last season, Odunze became the first player in school history to record four straight games with triple-digit receiving yards, beginning in week four against Stanford to open 2022 conference play.

On Saturday night, he did this again with his 125 yards coming on the heels of 132, 107 and 180. For the season, he has 27 catches for 544 yards and 4 touchdowns, 6 scores overall including one by rushing and the punt return.  

One reason for his continuous success is the 6-foot-3, 215-pound pass-catcher from Las Vegas came into this season built differently and it’s shown through in the UW's 4-0 start.

“We know he’s bigger and he’s as fast as I think he’s ever been," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said after the game. "And then you just see every ball that’s in the air, he just goes and gets it and does everything.”

Odunze’s initial catch of the night, a 23-yard completion from Penix, helped set up the offense for the first of its five first-half touchdown drives in this Pac-12 Conference opener. Ja'Lynn Polk did the scoring honors with an 8-yard grab to put the Huskies up 21-6.

The next reception for Odunze was that 44-yarder to start the UW’s first drive of the second quarter and resulted in another touchdown, Dillon Johnson's 3-yard scoring run for a 31-6 lead. 

Just one of Odunze’s 5 receptions against Cal didn’t lead to points for UW, but only because Penix threw his second interception of the year on the drive.

To close out the half, Odunze got in between Bears safety Craig Woodson and cornerback Lu-Magia Hearns III to haul in the 35-yarder for a 45-12 halftime lead.

Of all his great plays over the opening 30 minutes, Odunze was at his degree of difficulty best on this one.

“To find a way to snag the ball, that adjustment to the ball on the touchdown, our whole sideline was just in awe," DeBoer said. "It just becomes contagious."

Yet there was more from him. Odunze’s final catch of the game gave him his second touchdown reception, a 13-yarder from Penix, and a 52-12 lead with just over 11 minutes to go in the third quarter. 

To hear the receiver talk about his route-running is to listen to an artist at work.

"I was looking over my inside shoulder," Odunze said of his first-half touchdown exclamation point. "I'd seen the departure of the ball and Penix kind of threw it to the back of the end zone so I just sort of flipped my eyes."

And with that clever move, all eyes were on him.

 

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Lars Hanson
LARS HANSON

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