Inside The Huskies

Sun Devils Nearly Do It Again, But Powell's 89-yard Pass Theft Rescues UW

Arizona State and the rainy elements were almost too much for Huskies to overcome.

Dan Raley

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The University of Washington football team showed up in their gimmicky and glossy purple uniforms and helmets, and the Huskies looked like a much different team.

Trouble was, they didn't resemble their former selves at all. Not even close. Who were these guys?

The UW hardly looked like an unbeaten and fifth-ranked powerhouse team capable of scoring 44.3 points per game.

The Huskies almost had to argue that they had a 13-game win streak coming in and fell in lock step behind the leading Heisman Trophy candidate in Michael Penix Jr. 

On Saturday night in a solid downpour at times, Kalen DeBoer's players stumbled and nearly did a Cinderella wardrobe change at midnight before something magical happened — nickelback Misheal Powell saved this one with an 89-yard interception return for a score with 8:11 left to play.

Powell's pick-six put his team ahead for the first time, Grady Gross later added his third field goal in as many tries and the Huskies pulled out a much tougher than expected 15-7 victory in front of a drenched crowd.

With the Sun Devils driving to put this one away, quarterback Trenton Bourguet, so calm and heady for a second consecutive outing against the UW, threw it right to Powell, who caught the ball on the run and went up the left sideline to the end zone without any trouble for a 12-7 lead.  Bourguet was the only ASU player with a chance to catch him, diving at his legs but failing to slow him. It was Powell's second career interception.

"It was like, man, I need something to make the crowd go crazy for a while," the junior nickelback from Seattle said. "So I'm happy I got to do that today."

Mishael Powell is off and running on his game-winning interception return.
Mishael Powell is on his way on an. 89-yard interception return for a touchdown :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY sports

Powell was full of heroics and, then all at once, the Husky Stadium gathering of 68,379 let out a big exhale.

It was a riches to rags to riches story for the supposed UW juggernaut (7-0 overall, 4-0 Pac-12) with ultimate college football dreams still preserved by holding off an outmanned but very determined ASU team (1-6, 0-4) that was a 27.5-point underdog coming in.

"Finding ways to win makes our team stronger," UW coach Kalen DeBoer said. "I'm confident we'll get our offense back on track."

The guys in head-to-toe purple once again were a little shorthanded against ASU, though not to the degree in 2022 when the Huskies had a bare-bones secondary and it cost them the game. 

This time, the UW went without three mainstay players in starting wide receiver Jalen McMillan, McMillan's replacement Germie Bernard and starting defensive tackle Tuli Letuligasenoa, all injured or re-injured against Oregon.

For a change, the Huskies had no offense to speak of, rushing for a meager 13 yards on 13 carries and going without a touchdown. Penix finished with 27 completions in 42 passes for a season-low 275 yards. Will Nixon led the team in rushing with a single carry for those 13 yards.

"It was a tough game," Penix said. "No game is easy to win in college. You might look at the records and stuff like that, but that stuff doesn't matter come game day. You have to find a way to win and that's what we did today."

Cam Skattebro scores a 1-yard touchdown against the Huskies.
Cam Kattebro puts the Sun Devils on top 7-0 in the second quarter.  :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

Strangely enough, the Sun Devils seemed far less affected by the dreary and sometimes intense weather conditions than the home squad. They seemed to enjoy themselves in this Montlake car wash.

They moved the ball however they pleased over the opening 30 minutes, though just settling for a solitary touchdown. ASU intercepted the ball twice and recovered a fumble on its way to a 7-3 halftime lead.

The Sun Devils also were their same push-the-limits team as edge rusher Clayton Smith raced in and smacked Penix helmet to helmet, drawing a targeting call and an ejection — just as teammate B.J. Green did the year before.

But when push came to shove, and a helmet smack made Penix split his lip, the Huskies weren't about to give this one away.

Still, the UW's first drive of the game ended with Penix throwing a ball right to cornerback Ro Torrence for an interception. 

Yet the Sun Devils couldn't capitalize on that turnover, moving down for a 31-yard field-goal attempt by Dario Longhetto that hit off the right goal post midway through the first quarter.

On their third drive, the Huskies drove to the ASU 9 only to have a Penix ball deflected high into the air and caught by falling ASU safety Shamari Simmons on the 3-yard line early in the second quarter.

The UW's fourth drive wasn't any better. Penix and Johnson botched a handoff and the Sun Devils' Simmons recovered the fumble at the ASU 47.

The third turnover was an ice-breaker for the visitors who eight plays later broke up the scoreless game by sending tailback Cam Skattebo over the right side on a 1-yard TD plunge. With 4:22 left in the half, the Sun Devils led 7-0. 

The Huskies avoided getting shut out in a half for the first time in the DeBoer era when Gross kicked a 24-yard field goal with 12 seconds on the clock.

It would have surprised no one had the UW changed uniforms at halftime, to more comfortable purple and gold togs, but the Huskies stayed the course with their assigned wardrobe. Their poor play hung around a while longer, too.

In receiving the second-half kickoff, the home team might have thought it could put all of the missteps behind it. Yet on the second play, receiver Ja'Lynn Polk caught the ball, fumbled it away on the UW 40 and the Huskies had done the unthinkable — committing four turnovers overall with only 43 seconds played in the half.

Even more incredible, the third quarter would end with the UW having scored just 3 measly points and still trailing by 4.

Gross added a second field goal, a career-long 47-yarder to pull the Huskies within 7-6 with 12:28 remaining in the game.

In rapid-fire succession, Powell put the Huskies ahead with his heads-up pass theft and Gross extended the lead to eight with a second 24-yard field goal and those fancy new and almost unlucky uniforms probably were quickly confiscated, washed and packed away deep in some storage room somewhere. It was just a matter of being patient.

"It was don't blink, don't flinch," Powell said. "There was plenty of time."

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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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