Washington
Penn State Vs. Washington: Keys to the Game
As Penn State cornerback A.J. Harris put it this week, the Ohio State loss is “no longer the moment” for the Nittany Lions. Penn State (7-1) still controls its destiny regarding the College Football Playoff, whose pursuit begins against Washington on Saturday in the annual White Out game.
Penn State tasks itself with handling a 5-4 Huskies squad that’s certainly beatable (losses to Washington State, Rutgers, Iowa, Indiana), but also certainly has enough strengths to pull off an upset. With that, here are the keys for James Franklin’s group to emerge from the White Out with an 8-1 record.
Penn State vs. Washington: Story lines, preview, predictions
Getting downfield completions from the receivers
Last week’s loss to the Buckeyes was by far the worst production that Penn State’s generated at wide receiver through eight games. That’s not a complete surprise, as the Buckeyes boast the third-ranked pass defense (161.5 passing yards allowed per game) in the Big Ten. But Washington brings the conference’s top-ranked secondary (142.0 passing yards allowed per game) to Beaver Stadium.
Getting the wide receivers more involved isn’t just an emphasis for the sake of distributing the ball. Penn State’s ability to make explosive plays has waned after an excellent start to the season. Earlier, quarterback Drew Allar occasionally was able to air out the ball and open the field for offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.
“I have a ton of confidence in that [wide receiver] room,” Allar said Wednesday. “Obviously, a way to be explosive is throwing the ball down the field. But again, we won’t have those opportunities to throw the ball down the field if we’re not staying ahead of the sticks and we’re not in rhythm.”
Against one of the best pass defenses in the country, Penn State could use more production, especially in stretching the field, from its top four receivers: Tre Wallace, Liam Clifford, Julian Fleming and Omari Evans. Unlike in the Ohio State matchup, the Nittany Lions can probably win this game without highlight receiver play. But given how the receiving unit has performed recently, Kotelnicki’s offense could use the boost at the position. Further, a rekindled chemistry between Allar and his receivers could be key moving forward.
A bounceback game from Nick Singleton, Kaytron Allen
Elsewhere in Penn State’s offense, running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen haven’t been their dominant selves recently. The Nittany Lions built their identity primarily around their strong ground game, yet neither running back has topped 100 rushing yards since Allen vs. Illinois on September 28. Last week, tight end Tyler Warren led Penn State in rushing with 47 yards.
Franklin could use a bounceback performance from his junior running backs against Washington. They should have a strong opportunity for one as well, with the Huskies currently allowing the fifth-most rushing yards per game (150.8) in the Big Ten.
Not unlike the issues with its receiving core, Penn State’s offense hasn’t fully been able to play to its strengths since its 33-30 overtime win at USC. Against Wisconsin, Allar missed the entire second half, and while backup quarterback Beau Pribula managed the unit well in a 28-13 win, the offense’s dominant ground game, creativity and explosiveness wasn’t as evident. Against the Buckeyes, the offense then managed just 3.8 yards per carry on top of the struggling receiving core.
The White Out is, in many ways, an opportunity for Penn State to return to the strengths that helped it reach the No. 3 ranking in the AP Top 25. Getting Singleton and Allen back in rhythm is a significant component of that strength.
Why is the White Out on Peacock?
Containing Will Rogers’ connection with his top receivers
Washington quarterback Will Rogers poses the biggest threat to the Nittany Lions when he’s in rhythm with his top two wide receivers, Denzel Boston and Giles Jackson. Through Washington’s first nine games, both have at least 50 receptions (55 for Jackson, 53 for Boston) while combining for 1,279 receiving yards. Boston’s nine receiving touchdowns also lead the Big Ten.
Penn State’s secondary will have some work to do in slowing Rogers, Boston and Jackson. Rogers, a senior who spent four seasons at Mississippi State, has had just one game with fewer than 200 passing yards this season. He doesn’t make mistakes often, with just four interceptions against his 13 touchdown passes, and has been efficient, completing 71.1 percent of his 277 throws.
If Penn State’s going to slow down the Huskies’ offense, forcing incompletions on key passing plays, being prepared for quick passes from Rogers and keeping Boston and Jackson’s impact to a minimum will be essential.
“[Rogers] gets the ball out fast. He knows [where] he’s going with the ball. He’s a pro-style quarterback who knows what he’s doing,” Harris said. “We just look forward to sticking to our technique, just trying to compete versus those guys. It’s a great group of wide receivers, but we just look at giving our all and trying to take care of that business.”
Washington isn’t the same team that went 14-1 and played for the national championship in 2023. However, the Huskies also aren’t a team to take lightly this season. They may have four losses, but if Penn State starts slow or thinks it can coast to a bounceback victory, the team easily could leave the White Out with its second consecutive loss.
“We’ve got to make sure that one loss doesn’t turn into two,” Franklin said. “We’ve got to make sure we moved on [from the Ohio State loss]. We’ve got to find a way to get a win against a really good Washington team coming into our place.”
Penn State will host Washington at 8 p.m. ET Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The game will be streamed on Peacock.
More Penn State Football
Penn State injury updates heading into the Washington game
Nittany Lions say they’re “dialed in” on Washington
Drew Allar reflects on passing game and Ohio State
Daniel Mader, a May 2024 graduate of Penn State, is an Editorial Intern with The Sporting News. As a student journalist with The Daily Collegian, he served as a sports editor and covered Nittany Lions women’s basketball, men’s volleyball and more. He has also covered Penn State football for NBC Sports and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, with additional work in the Centre Daily Times, Lancaster Online and more. Follow him on X @DanielMader_ or Instagram @dmadersports.
A man wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of a University of Washington student was arrested after photos of him were released to the public, authorities said on Thursday, May 14.
The Seattle Police Department did not name the suspect, but said in a statement that a 31-year-old man had turned himself in to the Bellevue Police Department. In a separate statement, the Bellevue Police Department said the suspect was arrested at about 10:42 p.m. local time on May 13.
The suspect was then transferred to the custody of Seattle Police Department homicide detectives and was booked into the “King County Jail for investigation of Murder,” according to police.
The arrest comes after police released photos taken from security camera footage of the suspect on May 13 and asked for the public’s assistance in the investigation. The photos appeared to show the man inside a laundry room.
On May 10, University of Washington police officers responded to the Nordheim Court apartments, an off-campus housing complex for undergraduate students, and found a woman stabbed to death in the laundry room. The victim, who a local official previously said was a 19-year-old transgender student, was identified by the King County Medical Examiner’s Office as Juniper C. Blessing on May 14.
The incident sparked a law enforcement investigation and prompted authorities to advise Nordheim Court residents to stay in their homes and lock their doors and windows for several hours.
In a statement on May 14, University of Washington President Robert Jones announced an arrest had been made “in connection with the horrific act that took the life of one of our students on Sunday night.”
“I hope the arrest brings some sense of relief to our community,” Jones said. “But this arrest does not lessen the profound shock and grief that the victim’s loved ones and our campus are still experiencing or bring back a beloved, promising and talented member of our university.”
“Much is still unknown about what caused this tragedy, and while this development is important, we will be looking closely at the circumstances in which this event occurred as part of our continued efforts to keep our campus community safe,” he added, noting that the university “remains committed to offering resources for those who need support, including our LGBTQIA+ community, during this difficult time.”
University of Washington student was found dead in laundry room
The University of Washington also confirmed on May 14 that the suspect arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing was the man in the photos shared by police. The Seattle Police Department had described the suspect as a Black man, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, with short black hair and a “goatee with ingrown scruff around the jaw.”
Police added that the suspect was wearing rimmed eyeglasses; a long-sleeve, dark blue full zip shirt with a white collared shirt underneath; dirty blue jeans; and “dirty dark, possibly gray shoes with a light sole.”
University of Washington police officers responded to a report of a stabbing at about 10:10 p.m. local time on May 10 at Nordheim Court, according to the Seattle Police Department. Responding officers discovered a victim in a laundry room, the Seattle Police Department said in a statement on May 11.
Responding officers and the Seattle Fire Department “attempted lifesaving treatment,” but the Seattle Police Department said the victim was pronounced dead at the scene. After campus police cordoned off the area, the Seattle Police Department took over the investigation, and detectives arrived to process the scene.
In an emergency campus alert sent at about 10:40 p.m. local time on May 10, the University of Washington said campus police were investigating a death that occurred at the Nordheim Court apartments building. The alert advised residents of Nordheim Court to “stay indoors and lock doors and windows.”
By around 11:05 p.m., the university said the area had been secured but urged residents to remain indoors. Shortly before 1 a.m. on May 11, the university told residents that they no longer needed to remain indoors but noted that the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Both police and the university later confirmed on May 11 that a student had been killed in the laundry room at Nordheim Court. The housing complex is privately managed and operated by Greystar, according to the university’s website and Balta.
Nordheim Court offers 454 units ranging in size from studios to four bedrooms, the university’s website states. The housing complex consists of eight buildings, and laundry facilities are located in Building 1 and Building 7.
The university said the student was found dead in Building 7.
‘Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known’
In a statement shared by the Human Rights Alliance of Santa Fe on behalf of Blessing’s family, the LGBTQ+ advocacy group said the family was “currently in a state of profound shock and heartbreak, processing an unimaginable loss.”
“This loss has devastated not only those closest to their child but also many others throughout the Seattle, Santa Fe, and LGBTQIA2S communities who are mourning as well,” the organization said, adding that Blessing’s family has asked for privacy.
In the statement, the family said Blessing was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and attended Littlebrook School and Princeton Middle School until they moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2018. Blessing’s family described them as a “gifted singer with a transcendent voice,” who studied at the New Mexico School for the Arts from 2020 to 2024.
The family noted that Blessing loved weather since early childhood and intended to study atmospheric science at the University of Washington while also pursuing minors in music and philosophy. They added that Blessing was “courageously living their life as who they were until it was cut tragically short.”
“Our family has been shattered by the loss of our child, Juniper Blessing, to an act of unspeakable violence near the University of Washington campus in Seattle,” according to the statement. “Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known – highly intelligent, extremely talented, and deeply sensitive to the needs of others. Juniper’s loss not only devastates us but diminishes the world.”
Federal authorities are planning a “summer surge” aimed at reducing crimes committed by young people in D.C. sources tell News4.
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro is expected to announce Friday that the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force will do additional enforcement and get more resources, law enforcement sources said.
The move comes about two weeks after the D.C. Council chose not to vote on extending Mayor Muriel Bowser’s emergency youth curfew zones over the summer.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 that established the task force. He declared a crime emergency and temporarily federalized the locally run Metropolitan Police Department in August 2025.
Trump threatened to seize control of MPD after teens attacked then-Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee Edward Coristine, who was known by the nickname Big Balls.
Pirro has repeatedly railed against youth who commit crimes and told News4 she would like to see children as young as 12 prosecuted as adults.
“The time for coddling young people – 14, 15, 16, 17 – is over. And it’s time that we lowered the age of criminal responsibility,” she said in August.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The owner of a popular Washington Avenue restaurant says he was arrested after a dispute with city health inspectors over whether his business had a valid permit to operate.
Surveillance video recorded May 6 inside Betelgeuse Betelgeuse shows owner Chris Cusack speaking with Houston Health Department officials before he was taken into custody.
“I was pretty dazed, and all I could do is comply until it all got figured out,” Cusack said.
Cusack was charged with failure to comply with local health and sanitary laws after authorities accused the restaurant of operating without a food dealer’s permit.
The Houston Health Department says food dealer permits are valid for one year and must be renewed annually.
Cusack disputes the allegation, saying he has paperwork he believes proves the business had renewed its permit in March.
“I pulled it off the wall and showed it to him,” Cusack said. “He said it wasn’t the right business. I said it has my business’ name and address on it.”
Cusack said inspectors questioned whether the permit was tied to the correct business identification number.
“(The inspector) saw the first ID and said, ‘Ah ha, that’s the one you’re working under, so therefore this isn’t valid,’” Cusack said.
ABC13 reached out to the Houston Health Department with questions about the arrest. The department referred questions to the Houston Police Department.
According to HPD, the health department ordered the business closed in October 2025 for operating without a permit, though officials did not specify which type of permit was involved.
Police said the business was instructed to remain closed until it complied with health regulations. On May 4, inspectors learned the restaurant was open, according to HPD. Inspectors returned two days later, when Cusack was arrested.
Cusack said he was never told to shut down the business and questioned why inspectors waited months before returning.
The restaurant, known for pizza and drinks, reopened following the arrest and was serving customers again on Wednesday.
Cusack also expressed concern about what he described as aggressive enforcement targeting Washington Avenue businesses.
The entertainment district has faced increased law enforcement scrutiny in recent years as city leaders attempted to curb reckless behavior and nightlife-related crime.
“Washington Avenue business owners are just being confused by these intense raids on businesses for what are typically really basic scenarios,” Cusack said.
Court records show Cusack is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday on the charge.
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