Washington to play Texas in semifinal at Sugar Bowl. Huskies beat the Longhorns in 2022 bowl meeting

Washington will meet Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1.

It will be a rematch of last year’s Alamo Bowl — but this time the stakes are much, much higher.

No. 2 seed Washington (13-0) won the Pac-12 championship with a 34-31 win over Oregon in the conference championship game on Friday.

No. 3 seed Texas (12-1) jumped four spots from No. 7 in the CFP rankings Sunday after winning the Big 12 championship with a 49-21 win over Oklahoma State. The Longhorns are leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference next season.

This will be the sixth all-time meeting between Washington and Texas, and fourth straight in a bowl. The semifinal will be a bowl rematch of quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr. of Washington and Quinn Ewers of Texas. Washington held off a late rally by the Longhorns to win 27-20 in the Alamo Bowl last year.

The Huskies have won eight of their last nine games by single digits, including the last four in a row by a total of 15 points. They’re in the playoff for the second time. The Huskies lost 24-7 to Alabama in the 2016 semifinal at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

Texas’ only loss this season was 34-30 to Oklahoma in October. The Longhorns are in the playoff for the first time on the strength of a 34-24 regular-season win at Alabama and a dominating performance in the Big 12 title game.

No. 1 seed Michigan (13-0) will play No. 4 Alabama (12-1) in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. The national championship game is Jan. 8 in Houston.

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