Penn State tries to rebound, avoid another setback

By Travis Johnson Associated Press STATE COLLEGE Penn State players know their goal is still within reach.

The No.

6 Nittany Lions (4-1 Big Ten, 7-1 overall, No.

6 CFP) also realize a College Football Playoff berth could slip away if they let last weeks humbling loss to No.

3 Ohio State snowball.

Theyre determined to rebound against Washington (3-3, 5-4) in front of a White Out crowd on Saturday.

We control our own destiny, quarterback Drew Allar said.

We have a really good team coming into town thats playing a lot of good ball right now.

So its going to be a challenge this week for us offensively and we got to step up to the challenge.

The Huskies arent the Buckeyes, but they still pose a threat.

Washington will bring the nations second-ranked pass defense and a little swagger to Beaver Stadium, fresh off a late goal-line stand that helped upend Southern California last week.

While Washington stymied the Trojans from the 1 late in the fourth quarter to help snap a two-game losing skid, Penn State was on the other side of a similar situation.

The Nittany Lions ran four plays inside the Ohio State 3 with just over five minutes to play a week ago.

Three runs up the middle went nowhere and a fourth-down pass fell incomplete.

Ohio State took possession and ran out the clock.

We got to do some things better scheme-wise, but also weve got (to) do little bit better job fundamental and technique-wise to make sure we get the movement we need, Penn State coach James Franklin said.

Allar knows this will be a tough matchup for his wide receivers, but hes determined to get them going this week.

Since tight end Tyler Warrens 17-catch game against USC on Oct.

12, Penn States top three wideouts have combined for only 12 catches in games against Wisconsin and Ohio State.

Liam Clifford and Omari Evans were held without a catch by the Buckeyes and will now line up against a secondary allowing a Big Ten best 142 passing yards per game.

Additionally, the Huskies have picked off eight passes this season, including three last week.

If not the best, theyre one of the best, Allar said.

They just stick to guys in coverage.

So were going to have to make contested catches throughout the whole four quarters this weekend.

The Nittany Lions also need more from their running game.

Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for four 100-yard rushing performances to start the year.

Theyve failed to eclipse that threshold since.

Ohio States physical defense held Singleton to a career-worst 15 yards on six carries while Allen managed only 27 yards on 12 carries.

We got to get our traditional running game going, Franklin said.

I think thats 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.

Washington coach Jedd Fisch has experienced a Beaver Stadium White Out where nearly all of the 107,000-plus fans wear white and virtually glow under the lights.

Sure, its a sight, but the noise that comes with it poses the biggest challenge.

Fisch said he spent time earlier this week showing his players clips from Michigans 2015 win in Beaver Stadium when Fisch was part of Jim Harbaughs staff.

I know theyll be loud, Fisch said.

Weve just got to go play ball and try to see if we can play the best game weve played all year..

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