I trust the Nittany Lions to respond to last week's disappointing defeat to Ohio State. While I believe they should have played backup QB Beau Pribula more, at least as a change of pace option, PSU played it safe with a more vanilla game plan. While the defense showed out early, the offense's red zone troubles prevented the Lions from winning and covering the spread.

I still believe Penn State is a playoff-caliber team, which is bad news for Washington. The Huskies are good, but they lack explosiveness on offense. QB Will Rogers hasn't passed for a touchdown since Oct. 12 and has a 1:3 TD:INT ratio over the last three games. The UW defense plays well in stretches, but I believe its run defense (71st in rushing yards allowed) will struggle to defend the PSU ground game (187.5 rush yards/game) with Kaytron Allen (4.7 YPC) gutting out the tough yards and Nicholas Singleton providing the boom with the explosive run plays (6.1 YPC).

UW will be getting its first look at PSU's unique and intimidating "White Out" environment. I expect the Nittany Lions to come out with plenty of energy, amping up their fans and sending the Huskies whimpering back to Washington.