On Saturday afternoon, Michael Penix Jr. smashed Washington’s existing single-game passing record, throwing for an astounding 516 yards. As if fans didn’t have enough reminders as to how much former offensive coordinator John Donovan held the Husky offense back, Penix gave them one final reason to be mad at him in the team’s 49-39 win over Arizona. Let’s take a look at a few stats that helped make that happen, and why the top wide receiver recruits from around the country should be flocking to Montlake to play in this offense.

11.7

That was Penix’s average yards per pass attempt against the Wildcats, which was well above his season average of 8.9 yards per attempt. Having receivers like Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze that can stretch the field definitely helps that number, but for reference, Dylan Morris had the same supporting cast in 2021, and averaged 6.8 yards per attempt on the season.

2,560, 20

Seems obvious here, but those are Penix’s total number of yards and touchdowns thrown for this season. Both are first in the Pac-12, while the passing yardage total is first nationally, and the touchdowns rank fifth in the country. The most eye-popping part about both numbers is that it took Penix seven games to throw for more yards than Morris did in 2021 (2,458), and just five games to beat his touchdown mark (14). He’s done that on 75 fewer attempts than Morris had on the entire year, while throwing just four interceptions to this point in the year, compared to Morris’ 12 last season.

81.8

Penix completed a career-high 81.8% of his passes in Saturday’s victory while hitting nine different receivers. Along with the offensive scheme, and wide receivers coach JaMarcus Shephard, he’s helped receivers Jalen McMillan and Rome Odunze achieve their full potential. The tandem received 19 of his 44 targets against the Wildcats, and accounted for 246 of his 516 yards through the air, which is just a little shy of 50% of his total yardage.

561

Speaking of Odunze, after putting up just 132 yards in the two games he played in during the non-conference portion of the schedule, he’s posted 34 catches, 561 yards, and five touchdowns in his last four contests. The third-year sophomore from Las Vegas has established himself as one of the best receivers in the conference, and it earned him a spot on The Athletic’s mid-season first-team All-America.