2026 PSU at Washington

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General Pre-Game Information

• Game Nine of 2026 season—This is the third of four road games on Penn State’s Big Ten schedule and their 2nd conference match-up with Washington since Huskies joined the league for the 2024 season. Penn State (0-0, 0-0) and the Huskies have only played 4-times (twice in bowl games/twice in the regular season) and have not met in Seattle since 1921. The Washington Huskies (0-0, 0-0) are coming off their Halloween visit to Nebraska. Demond Williams is the Huskies QB. Washington announced July 30 that this game will be both its Homecoming and the Purple Reign Game where Huskies fans dress in purple. This is the second straight meeting in which PSU and Washington are playing in an official “color out”—the 2024 game at Penn State was the official regular season Whiteout.

• Last PSU Game played (Sat., Oct. 31): Penn State X Purdue X at Beaver Stadium

• Current Rankings: CFP Poll (first rankings of season/release date-Nov. 3)-TBA / AP Poll-TBA / US LBM Coaches Poll-TBA

• Washington 2025 Record: 9-4 overall, 5-4 in Big Ten (5-2 at home)—Head Coach: Jedd Fisch (3rd season)—Fisch has only previously faced Penn State when he was the Quarterbacks Coach/Pass Game Coordinator under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan (2015-16)—Michigan won both meetings with the Nittany Lions with Fisch on the staff

• 5th meeting with Washington all-time (2nd in Seattle): Penn State is 4-0 all-time vs. Washington (1-0 at home/1-0 away/2-0 at neutral sites for bowl games)—The series dates to a 21-7 State win in 1921 at then-University of Washington Stadium in Seattle (renamed Husky Stadium in 1971) when Washington was still known as the Sun Dodgers (they adopted the Huskies nickname in 1922). This was Penn State’s first ever game on the west coast and possibly their longest non-bowl trip ever (they left via train immediately after their Nov. 24th scoreless tie in the mud at Pitt and did not return to State College until Dec. 10th—a week after the game in Seattle). Penn State’s three other meetings with Washington: 1983 Aloha Bowl in Honolulu, 2017 Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ, and the 2024 first Big Ten conference meeting at Beaver Stadium.

• Last Penn State Game vs. Washington at what is now known as Husky Stadium (Dec. 3, 1921): Washington’s football stadium had just opened for the final game of the 1920 season, and this was just the 7th game ever played there. The stadium featured a dirt surface in those days… not grass… dirt. This would be the first time that State would face a member of the Pacific Coast Conference (the PCC was the forerunner of the PAC 8/10/12). Penn State was 7-0-2 coming into this game with impressive wins over Georgia Tech and Navy, and a 21-all tie at Harvard that folks of that era called the greatest game they’d ever seen. But State’s Head Coach Hugo Bezdek had never beaten Washington during his time as the coach at Oregon (0-3-1 in 1913-16) and losing starting halfback Joe Lightner to a sprained ankle at practice on the Sun Dodgers field a few days before the game was not a good omen. 35 thousand fans reportedly turned out for a rather late Homecoming game, and they were shocked and disappointed to see Washington struggle against the size of Penn State’s line and the speed of their backfield (Glenn Killinger, Light Horse Harry Wilson, & Pete Redinger). Killinger threw a 10-yard TD pass to left end Stan McCollum (who caught anywhere from 6 to 11 passes that day depending on what your favorite newspaper reported) for a 14-0 halftime lead, and Redinger (Lightner’s replacement) put the finishing touches on the 21-7 win with a TD dash around the left end in the third quarter. This 8-0-2 edition of the Nittany Lions would be the last unbeaten team at Penn State until the legendary 1947 squad took center stage.

• Did the 1921 victory at Washington play a role in Penn State’s eventual invitation to the 1923 Rose Bowl vs. USC? Probably… But stories vary on this topic… One suggests that State Head Coach Hugo Bezdek wanted a shot at unbeaten 1921 PCC Champion California in the January 1922 Rose Bowl, and was miffed when it wasn’t immediately offered after the win at Washington… Another story suggests that Penn State was, in reality, invited to the ‘22 Rose Bowl before the Washington game had even been played, but Bezdek declined because two cross country train trips in a month would be impossible… The second option of the two seems more plausible and it was actually suggested in an Oct. 27, 1922 Penn State Collegian piece that also announced the official acceptance of the 1923 bowl offer… Certainly the ‘21 win in Seattle played a role in getting the 1922 Nittany Lions squad invited to Pasadena… Whether they would deserve that invite is another story…A third variation on this theme is that the Lions were, in fact, invited to the 1923 Rose Bowl after the win at Washington because it was believed that the 1922 Penn State team would be even better than the 1921 version… Then-lineman (and future head coach) Joe Bedenk hinted at that and has been quoted as saying that when assistant coach Dick Harlow left State for Colgate after the ‘21 season, several young players followed him because they had been denied letters by Bezdek and were angry… The loss of that talent was exposed later in the ‘22 season when the 5-0 Lions suddenly stumbled to a tie and 3 losses in their final 5 games against stronger competition… The fall to a 6-3-1 finish reportedly may have caused undefeated Cal to decline to play State in the ‘23 Rose Bowl giving PCC-newcomer and co-third place finisher USC the opportunity to showcase itself in the then brand-new home of the Rose Bowl (a 14-3 USC win over State)…

• Last PSU Game vs. Washington (Nov. 9, 2024 at Beaver Stadium): This game was their first ever meeting at both Penn State and at Beaver Stadium. It was their first meeting as members of the Big Ten, and their first game not played in the month of December. It was also the first Whiteout where the Big Ten opponent was a former member of the PAC-12. This was the “official” Whiteout for the 2024 season (there were technically 3 in all including an “unofficial” version vs. Illinois & an official CFP version vs. SMU). 110,233 fans packed the house (it was the 9th largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history at the time). Penn State was ranked #6 and scored touchdowns on all 4 of its first half possessions on the way to the 35-6 win. Drew Allar passed for 220 yards and a TD (8 yards to Julian Fleming WR) while Kaytron Allen rushed for 98 yards and a 1-yard TD. Tyler Warren added two 2-yard TD runs. Nick Singleton had a 97-yard kick return for a TD negated by a holding penalty. Defensively, Abdul Carter collected a pair of sacks and a forced fumble with Jaylen Reed grabbing his 3rd INT of the season.

• Penn State vs. Washington in Bowl games (1983 & 2017): The 1983 Aloha Bowl in Hawaii (now a defunct bowl) was PSU’s first game ever played outside the contiguous 48 states, and it capped off an up-and-down season that saw the Nittany Lions finish 8-4-1. True Freshman Tailback DJ Dozier rushed 15 times for only 37 yards against Washington, but he scored the game winning TD in the lackluster 13-10 PSU win on the day after Christmas. Note: Dozier’s Aloha TD was his 8th of the season and technically remained the PSU Freshman single-season rushing record until it was matched by Noah Cain RB in 2019 and passed by both Nick Singleton RB (12) & Kaytron Allen RB (10) in 2022. The 2017 Fiesta Bowl at the Arizona Cardinals stadium in Glendale saw Trace McSorley throw for 342 yards in a 35-28 Penn State victory. DaeSean Hamilton WR was Trace’s favorite target with 110 receiving yards and 2 TDs (longest—48 yards). Saquon Barkley RB set a Fiesta Bowl record (& a PSU post-season record) with his 92-yard TD run in the 2nd quarter. He finished with 137 yards and 2 TDs rushing in the Dec. 30th game.

• Memorable PSU moment from the 2024 Washington game: This was a quick glimpse of a future was never to be…4th quarter, PSU has 1st and 10 at its 8 with 1:28 to go in the game. The reserves are in, and Beau Pribula QB gives it to true freshman RB Corey Smith. It’s Corey’s PSU debut game and only his second carry. He bursts up the left sidelines for 78 yards to the 14 of the Huskies. That’s where Penn State kills the clock to close out the win, 35-6. Pribula never finished the 2024 season for transfer portal reasons, and Smith disappeared in the aftermath of the 2025 coaching change. They are now at Virginia and Toledo respectively.

• 1st Xpm ET kick for PSU in 2026 season. 1st game since switch to standard time on Nov. 1.

  TV/Radio Information

• TV Game Announcers: TBA

• First game televised on X since

• This is the xx game this season to be televised on a traditional or non-traditional TV Network

• The 2024 Penn State-Washington game was seen only on Peacock (streaming-only) and was the first Whiteout game to not be televised by a major TV or Cable Network. This game was selected by PSU for the Whiteout to force a much-desired primetime kick for television (the preferred PSU-Ohio State game had been selected for Big Noon by FOX). Kick time was 8pm EST. Roughly 23 IMAX Theatres in several eastern states and in Washington state also made the game available via pay-per-view (this was believed to be the first instance of PPV for a PSU game since 1985’s live PPV telecast of the game at Cincinnati, and 1975’s closed-circuit telecasts of the Ohio State & Iowa road games/produced by TCS which was PSU’s TV production partner in this era).

• Penn State Radio Network Announcers: Steve Jones (PBP), Jack Ham (Analyst), & Brian Tripp (Sidelines). Jones & Ham are in their 27th season in the booth together. Ham, a member of both the CHOF (1990) and Pro Football Hall of Fame (1988), played linebacker at Penn State (1968-70). Jones (Class of 1980) & Tripp (Class of 2011) are also Penn State grads.