Penn State Football: 5 reasons Nittany Lions will beat Washington in Fiesta Bowl
By Shane Lunnen
3. Penn State will shut down Washington’s Dante Pettis
The Huskies superstar wide receiver Dante Pettis will be a focus of the Nittany Lions on defense and special teams. Penn State has the athletes to shut him down.
Pettis leads the Huskies in receiving this season with 721 yards and seven scores. He averages just over a 11 yards per catch. To add to his dynamic ability as a receiver, Pettis is even more dangerous as a punt returner. He has returned 22 punts this year, averaging 19.5 yards per return and scoring four touchdowns. He broke the NCAA record this season with nine career punt returns for touchdowns.
The Nittany Lion secondary is pretty sound when it comes to tackling and they cannot afford to whiff on Pettis when they have a chance. Even more so, the Nittany Lions have to play sound special teams to hem in Pettis on punt returns.
This is where punter Blake Gillikin will factor. Gillikin averaged 43.2 yards per punt on 50 attempts this season and the special teams has only allowed 4.3 yards per return this season. Look for Gillikin to boot his punts high to give the Penn State gunners a chance to contain the dangerous return man. The Lions can make Pettis a non-factor in the return game, giving them a huge boost to keep the game in their favor.