STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Penn State players know their goal is still within reach.
The No. 6 Nittany Lions (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten, No. 6 CFP) also realize a College Football Playoff berth could slip away if they let last week’s humbling loss to No. 3 Ohio State snowball.
They’re determined to rebound against Washington (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) 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 that’s playing a lot of good ball right now. So it’s going to be a challenge this week for us offensively and we got to step up to the challenge.”
The Huskies aren’t the Buckeyes, but they still pose a threat.
Washington will bring the nation’s 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 we've 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 he’s determined to get them going this week.
Since tight end Tyler Warren’s 17-catch game against USC on Oct. 12, Penn State’s 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, they’re one of the best,” Allar said. “They just stick to guys in coverage. So we’re going to have to make contested catches throughout the whole four quarters this weekend.”
The Nittany Lions need more from their running game.
Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for four 100-yard rushing performances to start the year. They’ve failed to eclipse that threshold since.
Ohio State’s 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 that’s 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, it’s 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 Michigan’s 2015 win in Beaver Stadium when Fisch was part of Jim Harbaugh’s staff.
“I know they’ll be loud,” Fisch said. “We’ve just got to go play ball and try to see if we can play the best game we’ve played all year.”
Fisch has had to monitor running back Jonah Coleman’s workload since the junior was unable to finish a game against Rutgers on Sept. 27.
Following the team’s bye three weeks ago, Coleman has looked better and better. He topped out with a career-high 23 carries against the Trojans. He leads the Huskies with 889 yards on 141 carries and seven touchdowns.
“We needed that bye week for Jonah to get back to as healthy as he could be,” Fisch said. “Our goal is about 20 carries. He had 58 (total) plays in the (USC) game, so not just the carries, but in the pass game. That’s a pretty substantial amount of reps for a running back.”
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Penn State head coach James Franklin reacts during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game against Ohio State, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
No. 6 Penn State looks to rebound, avoid another setback against Washington
No. 6 Penn State looks to rebound, avoid another setback against Washington
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s parliament passed a law early Thursday that would allow it to deport family members of Palestinian attackers, including the country’s own citizens, to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip or other locations.
The law, which was championed by members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and his far-right allies, passed with a 61-41 vote. However, legal experts said that any attempt to implement the legislation would likely lead to it being struck down by Israeli courts.
The law would apply to Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of annexed east Jerusalem who knew about their family members' attacks beforehand or who “express support or identification with the act of terrorism.”
They would be deported, either to the Gaza Strip or another location, for a period of seven to 20 years. The Israel-Hamas war is still raging in Gaza, where tens of thousands have been killed and most of the population has been internally displaced, often multiple times.
It was unclear if the law would apply in the occupied West Bank, where Israel already has a long-standing policy of demolishing family homes of attackers, which critics decry as collective punishment. Palestinians have carried out scores of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years.
Oded Feller, a legal adviser to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, dismissed the law as “populist nonsense.” He said it was unlikely to be applied, because there is no legal way for the Interior Ministry to send an Israeli citizen to another country or to Gaza.
His organization doesn't plan to challenge the law unless authorities try to enforce it, in which case he expects any court challenge to succeed.
Eran Shamir-Borer, a senior researcher at the Israel Democracy Institute and a former international law expert for the Israeli military, agreed that the law was likely to be struck down by the Supreme Court.
He said that if a resident of east Jerusalem was deported under the law, it could be seen by many in the international community as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, because they view the area as occupied territory, although Israel does not.
The deportation of an Israeli citizen could be seen not only as a violation of their constitutional rights under Israeli law, but also as a breach of their human rights under international law, he said.
The law could also be seen as a form of collective punishment and as discriminatory, because it appears to only apply to Arab citizens and residents, and not to family members of Jews convicted under terrorism laws.
“The bottom line is this is completely nonconstitutional and a clear conflict to Israel’s core values,” Shamir-Borer said.
Israel's national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a Jewish West Bank settler leader who was himself convicted of terrorism crimes as a political activist years ago, praised the new law, noting that a member of his Jewish Power party was among the sponsors. “Jewish Power is making history!” he wrote on X.
Israel captured Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war — territories the Palestinians want for their future state. It withdrew settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005, but has reoccupied parts of the territory since Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, 2023 triggered the war.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized by most of the international community. Palestinians there have permanent residency and are allowed to apply for citizenship, but most choose not to, and those who do face a series of obstacles.
Palestinians living in Israel make up around 20% of the country's population. They have citizenship and the right to vote but face widespread discrimination. Many also have close family ties to those in the territories and most sympathize with the Palestinian cause.
A second law that was passed Thursday allows minors between the ages of 12 and 14 to be sentenced to prison for murder or attempted murder under terrorism laws, though they must be held in a secure facility before being transferred to prison at age 14.
Previously, minors of those ages were not allowed to be sentenced to prison, according to Adalah, a legal advocacy group. It claimed the law was motivated by “revenge” and said it would affect Palestinian citizens of Israel and residents of east Jerusalem.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank can already be sentenced from age 12 under Israeli military laws in the territory, Adalah said.
Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, speaks to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, left, at the opening of the 25th Knesset session marking the anniversary of the "Iron Swords" war, in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (Debbie Hill/Pool Photo via AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, flanked by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, second from left, attends at the opening of the 25th Knesset session marking the anniversary of the "Iron Swords" war, in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (Debbie Hill/Pool Photo via AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the opening of the 25th Knesset session marking the anniversary of the "Iron Swords" war, in Jerusalem, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (Debbie Hill/Pool Photo via AP)
