Michael Penix Jr. made his case as one of the best quarterbacks in the country Saturday night.
Through the first three games in 2022 the UW signal-caller has thrown for 1,079 yards, second-most among all Football Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks, and 10 touchdowns to lead the Pac-12 Conference.
It’s not just big numbers that the junior transfer from Indiana is putting up. It’s how Penix has done it, and in such a short amount of time.
On the first couple of drives against Michigan State it appeared there was some confusion with where players should be lined up. Still, Penix managed to get everyone lined up and execute the game plan to a high level which led to UW jumping out to a fast start Saturday.
According to Pro Football Focus metrics Penix is the third-highest graded quarterback in the country, behind only Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Maryland’s Taula Tagovialoa. He’s also one of only three quarterbacks who have yet to be sacked this season.
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Prior to this season Penix has thrown for over 1,000 yards just twice, due in large part to his inability to stay healthy. It’s become clear through the first three games that, if Penix can stay healthy – his offensive line has a big part in that responsibility – he could be one of the best in the country.
Now that Penix has passed his non-conference test proving he can do it week in and week out against the Pac-12 is what’s left.
Next Saturday UW opens conference play at home against Stanford. So far this season the Cardinal have been targeted the least – 47 times – of any defense in the conference through the air.
That includes having already faced Lincoln Riley and USC that run a pass-heavy offense. While the Trojans didn’t put up a high volume of pass attempts – Caleb Williams completed 20 of 27 attempts in the game – the four-touchdown result is what matters most.
Penix has thrown for four touchdowns twice already this season after reaching that mark once in his four seasons at Indiana from 2018-21. In fact, he threw just four total in 2021 in the first five games and didn’t play in the last seven regular season games for the Hoosiers.
Back in fall camp Penix was asked specifically about the fact that he hasn’t played more than six games in a season.
“Don’t count me out,” he said with a laugh. “Don’t count me out. It’s going to be special. Keep believing.”
It’s fair to say, after defeating a No. 11 Michigan State team in convincing fashion, nobody will count out Penix moving forward.
What might be more impressive is that UW hasn’t fully tapped into what this offense is capable of.
“Coach DeBoer just said it right on the head, that wasn’t our full potential. We got more.” Penix said after defeating Michigan State. “We want to continue to keep elevating. Keep getting better week by week. We got conference play coming up so we just gotta make sure we gotta stay with this 1-0 mindset.”
