Four things to know about Texas football's Alamo Bowl opponent, the Washington Huskies

About the Washington Huskies' season

Like Texas, the Washington Huskies (10-2, 7-2) held hopes of making it into their conference championship game but were denied in the end; Washington finished tied for second in Pac-12 with Oregon and Utah, but missed out on the conference title game because of a tiebreaker. Instead, Utah upset USC in the title game. The Huskies started out 4-0, then lost back-to-back games to UCLA and Arizona State early in conference play and weren't able to recover despite finishing the season with six straight wins.

This is the Huskies' best season since 2018 when they went 10-4, 7-2 to win the North Division, beat Utah in the Pac-12 title game and lost 28-23 to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Since that season, Washington had gone 4-5, 3-1 and 3-6 in the conference before this year.

It's all about quarterback Michael Penix Jr.

The Huskies' present — and future — rests in Michael Penix Jr., the country's leading passer who announced Sunday that he'll return to Washington for a sixth season in 2023, taking advantage of the NCAA's COVID-19 year of eligibility. The lefty has thrown for 4,354 yards (tops in the nation) and is averaging 362.8 yards per game (also tops).

Penix's worst game came against Colorado, when he was held to 229 yards and one touchdown. He has torched Arizona for 516 yards, Washington State (his most recent game) for 485, Oregon for 408 with seven other 300-yard games. For the season he's 330 of 500 for 4,354 yards, 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Washington's other top players

Besides Penix, Washington running back Wayne Taulapapa is the team's leading rusher with 779 yards and has 10 touchdowns; he'll be playing in his final game unless he opts out. Fellow running back Cameron Davis has 522 yards and his 13 rushing touchdowns are third-most among Pac-12 running backs. The Huskies have a pair of 1,000-yard sophomore wide receivers in Rome Odunza (70-1,088-7) and Jalen McMillan (71-1,040-8). And there are two edge rushers with big numbers: Jeremiah Martin (39 tackles, 8½ sacks, 11 TFL) and Bralen Trice (33 tackles, 8 sacks, 11 TFL).

About Huskies' coach Kalen DeBoer

Like Texas' Steve Sarkisian, Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer is a 48-year-old offensive-minded coach who's trying to turn things around at his school. But he took a different path than Sarkisian. DeBoer's 90-11 career mark was built by dominating at the NAIA level with Sioux Falls, winning three national championships and going 67-3 from 2005 to 2009. At the FBS level, he's 89-11 at Fresno State (2020-21) and Washington, where he's 10-2 in his first season. He was a Sioux Falls wide receiver, setting school records for career catches, receiving yards and touchdown catches.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: What Texas football fans should know about Alamo Bowl opponent Washington