By: Tyler Millen
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - An avalanche of white compounded by a synchronized sound of screams will greet Washington who are making their first trip in program history to Beaver Stadium on Saturday at 8 p.m. for the 16th full stadium Penn State White Out.
The Nittany Lions welcomed a record 111,030 on Nov. 2 against Ohio State and ushered in a new Beaver Stadium attendance record. History will once be rewritten on Saturday as Penn State and Washington are set to clash in their first regular season matchup since 1921.
Saturday will mark the fourth all-time contest between the 5-4 Huskies and 7-1 Nittany Lions with the last meeting coming in the 2017 Fiesta Bowl. Penn State is 9-6 in White Out games and have won the last four in a row including a 31-0 win over then-No. 24 Iowa in 2023.
Penn State is looking to rebound after suffering its first loss of the season to the Buckeyes and while the cheers of the upcoming White Out will be deafening, head coach James Franklin said the Nittany Lions are poised to silence the noise and refocus.
“We’ve got to make sure that one loss doesn't turn into two, and that's controlling the things we can in our building and flushing it,” Franklin said. “Although whether it's on campus or in the community or social media, that makes it more challenging specifically for our players to do that. We’ve got to make sure we moved on. We’ve got to find a way to get a win against a really good Washington team coming into our place.”
Washington ended a two-game losing skid with a 26-21 win over USC in its last game and have found steady play in senior quarterback Will Rogers who is tied for the Big Ten lead with 19 touchdowns. Rogers is third in the conference in completion percentage at 73.2 and fourth in passing yards with 2,284.
Rogers’ go-to option is sophomore wide receiver Denzel Boston who leads the Big Ten with nine touchdown receptions. Boston has a team-high 682 receiving yards and could be matched up with Penn State sophomore cornerback Zion Tracy who’s caught the attention of Franklin for his emerging confidence and play making.
Tracy recorded a 31-yard pick-six against the Buckeyes for the first interception of his collegiate career and has two pass deflections on the season. Tracy tallied a trio of tackles against Wisconsin where senior safety Jaylen Reed also returned an interception for a touchdown. It’s the first time Penn State’s had a pick-six in back-to-back games since 2003.
“The biggest thing over the last couple weeks is his confidence,” Franklin said. “You’ve seen it on defense, I think it’s also translated to him as a punt returner… He’s practicing really well right now. Always been a super athletic guy that we considered when we recruited him playing wideout so he’s got those types of ball skills.”
Saturday’s showdown will feature two of the top secondaries in the country as the Huskies are second nationally with just 142 passing yards allowed per game. Penn State slots in at 18th in passing defense and will go toe-to-toe with a Washington passing attack that’s fifth in the Big Ten.
Penn State and Washington both place in the top-25 of scoring defenses while the former is allowing just 15 points per game. The latter will be looking to shut down a Penn State running attack that Franklin is hoping to reignite.
Establishing the run game as a formidable force will be a key dynamic of Penn State’s offensive approach after junior running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for 42 rushing yards against Ohio State.
Washington enters 14th in the Big Ten in rushing defense and has allowed over 150 rushing yards per game. The Wildcats still possess talented linebackers like seniors Carson Bruener and Alphonzo Tuputala and Penn State’s blockers will have to key in on those two tacklers to generate explosive plays in the run game.
“We’ve got to get our traditional running game going,” Franklin said. “I think that's going to be a combination of both still doing some of the heavy stuff, but I think we can expand on some of the spread stuff as well to get some guys out of the box to create more space. And then also from a scheme standpoint as well, making sure that we're making them defend the field as much as possible. So outside runs, outside zones, which also could have an impact on inside zones in gap schemes as well.”