San Antonio, Texas - Coach Kalen DeBoer's brilliant debut season with the Washington Huskies has been capped off with a 27-20 Alamo Bowl game victory against the Texas Longhorns.

After winning just four games last season, Washington finished this year with an 11-2 winning record and marked the most impressive turnaround in college football this season.

The Huskies notched their fifth 11-win season in school history and ended the year 4-0 against AP Top 25 ranked teams.

With the Huskies being skillfully led by quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and star offense players Wayne Taulapapa and Jalen McMillan, the Longhorns struggled to keep up with Washington's offense in the Alamo Bowl on Thursday despite a rough passing day by Penix.

With the help of running back Taulapapa, who ran a 46-yard touchdown in the first quarter, Washington got into a good offensive rhythm that just couldn't be tamed.

McMillan finished the night for the Huskies with a highlight reel that included an unbelievable shoestring touchdown catch to lead the team with eight catches for 58 yards for the night.

Without Longhorn rusher Bijan Robinson, who skipped the bowl and declared for the NFL Draft, it was a rough day for Texas on the ground, as the team rushed for just 51 yards.

While Texas did score 10 more points in the final quarter, it wasn't enough for coach Steve Sarkisian to beat his former Washington team.

Their loss gives the SEC conference an unfortunate bowl record, including its future member Texas, of 1-5.

Despite his team's win, it wasn't the best day Penix, who finished No. 8 in the Heisman voting this year.

The Huskies passer only completed 32 of 54 passes for 287 yards with two touchdowns, and an interception.

Still, it was effective enough to put Washington in position to win its first bowl game under new head coach DeBoer, and put Penix on top of the school leaderboard.

During the bowl game, the young quarterback broke his school's record for the most passing yards in a single season. Penix eclipsed the 10-year-old record of 4,458 single-season passing yards set by Cody Pickett in 2002, with his 4,641 pass yards achieved this year.

As a huge bonus to the team next year, Penix announced he will return to Washington for another season. With his presence, the Pac-12 will boast one of the strongest quarterback groups in college football next year.

Along with reigning Heisman winner Caleb Williams of USC, Oregon’s Bo Nix is coming back, along with Washington State’s Cam Ward. Oregon State recently landed Clemson's former passer, DJ Uiagalelei, former Notre Dame passer Drew Pyne transferred to Arizona State, and Kent State passer Collin Schlee has moved to UCLA.

With such a close game and so much at stake, the Alamo Bowl certainly delivered a nail-biting night.