The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 35-6 domination of Washington

Penn State’s first defensive drive of Saturday’s game had the same feel as many of the group’s others to start previous games. Washington was moving the ball steadily down the field, taking advantage of Penn State playing with its cornerbacks off the line of scrimmage.

But much as they have all season, the Nittany Lions held. The Huskies ran the ball to defensive end Abdul Carter’s side and the Penn State star was having none of it. He tossed a lineman to the side and made the tackle for a loss, eliminating any chance UW had to go for it. The Huskies even missed the ensuing field goal, setting the tone for what would be a dominant defensive performance in the team’s 35-6 win in the White Out.

Carter’s play against the run was another sign of the progress he’s continued to make after switching positions from linebacker.

And Penn State head coach James Franklin said there’s even more room to grow for Carter.

“He’s a disruptive football player,” he said. “He was that way when he played linebacker. He’s disruptive when he plays defensive end. I still think there has been an evolution for him there, in terms of playing the run on a consistent basis, rushing the passer on a consistent basis, getting good at his get-off. He’s just getting better. To me, that’s the exciting thing. He’s got a lot of football ahead of him. He finds a ton of different ways to disrupt the game.”

And as Carter improves, the Nittany Lion defense will improve — giving one of the best units in the country room to raise its ceiling even higher.

Good

Abdul Carter: Let’s start with the best defensive player Penn State has. Carter had a slow start to the season, looking a little bit lost at times against West Virginia, and even a little bit hesitant. Over two months later, those issues have disappeared. He was nothing short of dominant against the Huskies against both the run and the pass, making life miserable for whichever Husky tackle had the displeasure of dealing with him on any given snap. Carter is an elite athlete with elite bend, showing the ability to get under the hands of offensive linemen and beyond them before they can touch him.

He always had a good chance of being a high first round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, but he has left no doubt with his play over the last month. Now it’s just a matter of how far he can rise up boards by the time April rolls around.

Tyler Warren: For as good as Carter has been for the PSU defense, Warren has been even better on the offense. He’s the best tight end in the country — yes, Franklin is right when he says he should win the Mackey Award — and was the most important piece of the Nittany Lion offense once again. He caught eight of his 11 targets for 75 yards, with 57 of those yards coming after contact. And its not just about how many yards he picks up with the ball in his hands. Warren defiantly stays on his feet no matter how many defenders hit him, refusing to go down even after the whistle is blown. That is demoralizing to a defense that is already struggling to stop him from getting the ball in the first place.

Oh, and he also ran for two touchdowns in the game, further cementing his status as one of the most versatile players in the country.

Penn State’s running game: It was important for the Nittany Lions to be able to run the ball against Washington because for the last half of the season they’d been struggling to do so. The running backs were a key part of the offense’s early season success and, along with Warren, were carrying the group for the most part. That started to tail off in recent weeks and came to a head against Ohio State when the team couldn’t move the ball on the ground and couldn’t punch it in from the goal line with three rushing attempts. That reverted Saturday night, with the Nittany Lions dominating the Huskies on the ground to the tune of 220 yards on 20 carries — and that was with running back Nick Singleton missing most of the second half due to injury.

Singleton’s status will be important moving forward but it’s clear that the rushing attack is getting going again after faltering for a stretch.

Drew Allar: I continue to be surprised by some of the conversation surrounding Allar. The offense has struggled at times this season but very rarely has it been his fault. The Nittany Lion quarterback has been good all season — if not great — and excelled again against Washington. He completed 20 of his 28 passing attempts for 220 yards and a touchdown in the game, but, most importantly, he was consistently accurate and putting pressure on the Washington defense with the throws he was making.

Allar’s play has seemingly taken a back seat in discussions because of how Penn State has found success (leaning on Warren and the running game) but he’s been a major part of the team’s success and is in position to lead it to victory if he can consistently get more help from the team’s receivers.

Jaylen Reed: Carter has been Penn State’s best defender but you can make the argument that Reed is the most important. His consistency this year has been remarkable. He’s very rarely had bad reps this year, let alone bad games. Reed is almost always in the right place at the right time because he has such a high football IQ and his instincts are off the charts. He plays all over the field for the Nittany Lions and makes plays behind the line of scrimmage, in the middle of the field and deep down the field in coverage. Reed started the season excelling in the team’s lion position before moving back to a true safety spot and playing better than he ever has there.

His seven tackles and interception Saturday night made up yet another excellent performance from the Penn State safety.

Bad

Tony Rojas: The Penn State defense doesn’t have many weak points, but Tony Rojas’ struggles this year have been noticeable. That’s not to say he’s consistently been bad. He’s still making splash plays on occasion, but far too often he’s out of position or taking bad angles to bring down ball carriers. There were inevitably going to be struggles in his career, as progression is very rarely linear, but he was still expected to be better this year as a sophomore.

That being said, there is still plenty of room for hope that he can be the next great linebacker at LBU. Rojas has all the athleticism he could need to be elite and has played well enough in the past to make it more likely than not that he eventually regains that form and dominates for the Nittany Lions.

Ugly

Washington’s passivity: The Huskies drove down the field in their first drive of the second half, stringing together plays enough to drive all the way down to Penn State’s six-yard line. And on fourth down, down four touchdowns, Washington head coach Jedd Fisch laid it all on the line for his Huskies, doing everything in his power to will his team to victory in a raucous White Out environment — by sending out his field goal unit and settling for three points. At that point, he may as well have instructed his team to load up the buses and head to Harrisburg early for its flight back to the west coast.

Cutting the lead from four scores to four scores is the same as admitting you’re just happy to lose by a little less than you were already going to. Fisch would have been better off sprinting onto the field waving a white flag.