Huskies Raise White Flag During Penn State's White-Out Game

The UW simply had nothing to offer as it dropped its fourth straight Big Ten road game.

Penn State all-everything player Tyler Warren goes in for a first-half touchdown against the Huskies in State College, Pennsylvania. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania -- For their annual White-Out Game, Penn State fans wore coats, hoodie sweatshirts, jerseys, construction helmets, stocking caps, baseball caps, bucket hats, cowboy hats and even wigs, and waved pom poms, all in a matching shade. Collectively, they looked something like a blinding snow storm or a big bowl of ice cream.

The idea behind this football fashion statement was to get the visitors to raise a white flag and surrender, and Jedd Fisch's University of Washington football team readily complied, getting humbled 35-6 on a chilly Saturday night in Beaver Stadium.

If this was another kind of White-Out, sixth-ranked Penn State (8-1 overall, 5-1 Big Ten) -- by scoring on all four of its first-half possessions without much trouble at all -- treated the Huskies like just another typo, erasing them with a few deft strokes to appease the color-coordinated crowd, give or take a purple shirt or two, of 110,233, which was the ninth largest in school history.

In the middle of what's been known lately as a swing state, the UW (5-5, 3-4) simply wasn't competitive in this playground battle in the heart of the Pennsylvania countryside, showing once more it doesn't have the personnel to win on the road in the conference -- failing to do so for the fourth time in as many tries.

Also, the Huskies missed out on an opportunity to secure a bowl bid, giving themselves two more chances against UCLA at home next Friday and against Oregon on the road after Thanksgiving to collect win No. 6.

"We didn't come ready to play, it's kind of plain and simple," linebacker Carson Bruener said.

Mostly, the UW got manhandled up front, on both sides of the line, something that happened once before at Iowa in a 40-16 setback, though this was worse. The Huskies gave up five sacks and couldn't get anywhere near Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar, who completed 20-of-28 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown. Penn State had a bulging 486 to 193 edge in total yardage.

This was a physical mismatch, and the UW coach didn't shy away from that. He noted how the Nittany Lions were nearly a 1,000 pounds heavier than his team on the offensive-line two-deeps.

"We're going to bring guys in and we're going to continue to get bigger," Fisch said. "This is the Big Ten. It's a huge transition. This team has been recruited as a Pac-12 team."

The UW made it a game for about half a quarter. The Huskies took the opening kickoff and moved smartly from their own 30 to the Penn State 22, only to stall out and turn to Grady Gross for a 45-yard field goal. His kicking slump is far from over -- Gross squarely hit the right upright and it bounced off.

While white was the predominant color, Penn State's first offensive possession was highlighted by a touch of yellow.

As the Nittany Lions moved down the field unheeded, they received an added boost when UW cornerback Thaddeus Dixon came up and made what appeared to be a textbook tackle on Omari Evans, waiting for the running back to come to him before wrapping up and taking him down for a 1-yard gain on the Husky 15.

Dixon, much to his dismay, was flagged for targeting, when it was determined he had gone helmet to helmet, and he was ejected.

UW wide receiver Denzel Boston (12) is brought down by Penn State safety Zakee Wheatley (6) during the first quarter at Beaver Stadium. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

The ball was moved to the 8 and Penn State scored one play later on back-up quarterback Beau Pribula's option keeper around the left end. The Nittany Lions had some of their subs in already and the game was just a touchdown old. The home team led 7-0 with 3:47 left in the opening quarter.

After forcing a punt, Penn State moved 14 plays in 80 yards for another score in the second quarter, turning to its football android, 6-foot-6, 261-pound Tyler Warren, who is normally a tight end but took a direct snap and reached the ball over the goal on a 2-yard run. The Lions were up 14-0 with 9:22 left before halftime.

It was at this point the Huskies caved in and just weren't competitive. Quarterback Will Rogers tried to throw one long for Jeremiah Hunter and badly overshot him, with Penn State's Jaylen Reed making an uncontested interception, putting his team on its 42.

Eight plays later, Mr. Do Everything Warren took another snap and ran over the left side untouched for another 2-yard score, putting his team up 21-0 with 3:23 remaining in the half.

Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar throws a pass during the second quarter under the rush of UW safety Vince Holmes. / Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

After the Huskies went 3-and-out, Penn State regained the ball with 1:53 left before intermission, plenty of time to score again, especially against a defense that looked as bad as it has all season.

The Nittany Lions covered 68 yards in nine plays for Allar's 8-yard TD pass over the middle to Julian Fleming, beating redshirt freshman corner Leroy Bryant. Thirteen seconds remained until the break. It was 28-0.

By now, all the color was drained out of the Huskies' faces with the realization they had been greatly embarrassed and still had to play the second half.

If that wasn't bad enough, Penn State's Nicolas Singleton returned the second-half kickoff 97 yards for an apparent touchdown, only to have it nullified by a holding call.

Two plays later, the Huskies finally got a defensive stop -- their first in five possessions -- recovering a Warren fumble on the Penn State 34. Bruener ripped the ball out and nickelback Jordan Shaw recovered.

The Huskies went with freshman Demond Williams Jr. at quarterback for the entirety of the second half, but still had problems moving the football. They settled for Gross' 24-yard field goal to whittle the deficit to 28-3 with 9:47 left in the third quarter.

Thereafter, Fisch played this one as if the game was unrecoverable and it was time to look to the future. He left Williams in and surrounded him with freshmen running backs Adam Mohammed and Jordan Washington, with the latter making his UW football debut.

Rogers was pulled with a mere 59 yards passing and starting tailback Jonah Coleman sat down with just 24 yards rushing.

"When you have guys who haven't started games or even won a game on the road in college ball, it's tough," Coleman said. "Obviously we moved to the conference and we're trying to figure out everything. No excuse."

Fisch said he didn't envision making a change at quarterback this week, that the job still belongs to Rogers for Friday's game against UCLA.

Gross added a 35-yard field goal early in the quarter to pull the Huskies within 28-6 and Penn State responded with Kaytron Allen's 2-yard TD run for the final margin. Allen led all rushers with 98 yards on 20 carries.

Typical of this mismatch game, the Huskies' Williams showed off his exceptional speed and broke a 43-yard run near the end, but he got sacked before and after his breakaway run and the drive stalled at the Lions' 11.

Penn State's White-Out Game had claimed another victim.

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