The 8th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions started the season with a week 1 victory over West Virginia down in Morgantown, WV by a score of 34-12.
QB Drew Allar led the offense going 11/17 with 216 yards and 3 passing touchdowns. Nicholas Singleton led the rushing game with 114 yards, which included a 40-yard touchdown run to ice the game for Penn State. The Penn State defense picked up right where they left off from 2023 by holding WVU to under 100 yards in rushing and 3 takeaways.
The Penn State offense struggled in the first quarter with the 1st drive ending in a fumble and the 2nd drive ending in a 3 in out. However, Drew Allar found Harrison Wallace III as the clock expired in the 1st to score the first points of the game. After another 3 and out for WVU, Penn State had a 10-play drive that was capped off Kaytron Allen 20-yard touchdown to take a 13-0 lead.
West Virginia did manage to respond with a 10-play drive that ended with a Michael Hayes II field goal. After another Penn State 3 and out, West Virginia was able to add another field goal by Hayes II to cut the lead to 13-6. However, with a drive that started with 36 seconds left in the half, all Penn State needed was 3 plays for Allar to find Wallace III for a 2nd time to make it 20-6 headed into the half.
Penn State received the ball to start the 2nd half after a 2 hour weather delay and immediately walked down the field that was capped off with Singleton's 40-yard touchdown run. After each team had two 3 and outs each, WVU's CJ Donaldson had a1 yard run to give WVU their first touchdown of the game.
Drew Allar's day was complete after the 3rd quarter and back-up Beau Pribula entered the game. He picked up right where Allar left off with 6 plays 70-yard drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Warren.
The Penn State defense continued to look elite. Even with the departure of key players and DC Manny Diaz, the defense had 2 fumble recoveries and an interception! Kevin Winston Jr. led the team with12 total (7 solo) tackles while Zane Durant led the way for the team in sacks.
Any doubts about Penn State coming into the season were put to rest after this game. The framework that Manny Diaz put in place for the Penn State defense is still there. Even though his departure was a hard replace, Tom Allen has this defensive unit still clearly going in the right direction.
The big doubts for the team were surrounded with QB Drew Allar. Even though he struggled in the 1st quarter, he looked as good as any QB for the rest of the game. The connection that him and new OC Andy Kotelnicki have is hopefully only going to get stronger for the remainder of the season.
4 key takeaways
Drew Allar finally played to the level that we all know he can play at.
This defense is as good as any in college football and will take this team to the playoffs.
The run game of Singleton and Allen is going to be tough to stop. They need to feed them the ball early to open up opportunities for Allar later in the game.
Great adjustments by the offensive coaching staff after the 1st quarter. This is something we have not seem from a Penn State OC in a long time!
Penn State (1-0) will take on Bowling Green next week in their home opener. Kickoff is set for 12pm.
-Adam Mack
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