Three takeaways from Penn State football’s 35-6 win over Washington in the White Out

Penn State hosted the Washington Huskies on Saturday night in the team’s annual White Out and dominated from start to finish. The Nittany Lions won the game 35-6, bouncing back from last week’s 20-13 loss to Ohio State.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Penn State offense gets back to form

The Nittany Lions (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) looked like a good offense most of the season but played poorly against Ohio State last week, a bad enough performance that it made it worth questioning how real the unit was. On Saturday night, the group didn’t just look good — it had its best game of the season at a critical time.

QB Drew Allar and the offense walked down the field on all four of PSU’s first half drives, overpowering a Washington defense that came into the night ranked No. 24 in ESPN analyst Bill Connelly’s SP+, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. Allar was on the money with his throws early, and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki pressed all of the right buttons.

A 28-0 lead after four possessions, while going 7-for-7 on third downs in the first half, is as good as it gets. And that should set the tone for the Penn State offense the rest of the regular season.

PSU defense proves it’s one of nation’s best

For as good as the offense was Saturday night, the defense was even better. The group might be the best in the country, and it had another dominant performance Saturday. It didn’t really matter what Washington was trying to do, defensive coordinator Tom Allen and his players had answers.

The Huskies struggled to pass because the Penn State pass rush continually got after Washington’s QBs and the run game and, despite a decent run here or there, couldn’t get any real push up front. Most of the time when the group got anything going it was because a skill player on the outside won a rep. And even then, it’s not as if those wins were resulting in big plays. Washington finished with just 193 total yards, while the Penn State defense amassed five sacks and nine stops in the backfield.

Some may have been nervous about the PSU defense because of slow starts early in the year, but it has proven it’s the best unit on the team after taking care of business against another Big Ten opponent.

College Football Playoff path becomes even clearer

Penn State was in a good position entering the weekend to make the playoff, but now it’s hard to envision the Nittany Lions missing out. They were a two-touchdown favorite against the Huskies, but this was still one of the two potential roadblocks in the team’s final four games.

PSU was coming off an emotional letdown against Ohio State, and this had a chance to be a game where the team allowed one loss to turn into two. Instead, it handled Washington with ease, leaving a road matchup with the Minnesota Golden Gophers as the other potential misstep on the schedule. (Yes, it’s possible the Nittany Lions could lose to Purdue or Maryland, but those two teams will be far greater underdogs than Washington was heading into Saturday night’s White Out.)