The 8th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions will travel down to Morgantown for their season opener against West Virginia. The game is scheduled for a 12pm kick off on Saturday at Milan-Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Previewing Penn State
Penn State is coming off a 10-3 season in 2023. They ended the season with a loss to Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl. Head Coach James Franklin will begin his 11th season at the helm of the Penn State program and has an 88-39 career record at Penn State.
His 2024 team will feature 3 brand new coordinators. Former Kansas OC Andy Kotelnicki takes over as the OC for Penn State. Former Vanderbilt special team's coordinator Justin Lustig takes over in Happy Valley. Former Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen takes over for Manny Diaz as the new DC for Penn State.
Penn State is going to return QB Drew Allar in 2024. The big question for Allar is, will he be able to jump to the next level? He has a brand-new offensive line, new coordinator, and new pass catchers. The Penn State does return RB's Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen to the mix. One of the best 1-2 punches in all of college football. Allar had good numbers in 2023, but really struggled with the incompletions.
The Penn State defense returns stars all over the field. Penn State boosts a top 5 defensive line and linebacker room in all of College Football, as well as one of the top safety rooms in the Big Ten! Similar to 2023, there are no question marks with the defense, and the defense will look to keep Penn State in the game.
Previewing West Virginia
Neal Brown entered the 2023 season on the hot seat. After a 9-4 season and a victory over North Carolina in the Duke's Mayo Bowl, Neal Brown earned the opportunity to lead West Virginia for a 6th season. Coming off a season where they exceeded their 4.5-win probability, the question for WVU is, was last year a fluke or is something special brewing in Morgantown?
West Virginia returns QB Garrett Greene in 2024. Greene is one of the top dual threat QB's in college football and will look to build off a strong 2023 season. He returns a running back room of Jaheim White and CJ Donaldson Jr. With both players combining for over 800 yards in 2023 and Greene tied for 1st in rushing TD's for a QB, the West Virginia running game is something to focus on.
The West Virginia defense is where the big concerns are. Their defensive line was one of the worst in the Big 12 in 2023. Two of their top 4 defensive lineman from last season transferred out of the program and they were unable to pick up anyone who graded higher than them in the portal. Their secondary has some strong players, but their lack of ability to get to the QB is a major weakness.
Previewing the game
The question marks for Penn State are all on the offensive side of the ball. For West Virginia, the question marks are with their defense. We know the Penn State defense will be able to disrupt the West Virginia offense. However, can the Penn State offense take advantage of West Virginia's lack of pass rushing. With a brand-new offensive line for Penn State, we really are unsure what we are going to be getting.
The Milan-Puskar Stadium crowd is one of the most underrated crowds in college football. The atmosphere is going to be even extra on Saturday. West Virginia will be looking for their 1st victory against Penn State since 1989 and would love to see their team overcome last season's 38-15 defeat.
Penn State's key to victory is they need to take advantage of a bad West Virginia defensive line. The run game needs to get going early. One of Penn State's biggest weaknesses in 2023 was they never established a run game and only relied on Drew Allar's arm. With the advantage in the trenches in Penn State's favor, if they can establish the run game early and then fall back into the pass game, it will ease all the hiccups for this new Penn State offense. With a new offensive line, new pass catchers, and a new play caller, this Penn State offense is still unknown. However, when the two big returners are Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, they have the opportunity to start them both on such a high note.
The Vegas Preview
Penn State opens as 8.5-point favorites. On the money line Penn State opens -300 and West Virginia opens as +240. The over/under for the game is 51.5.
This is always so hard to preview during week 1. With Penn State going to be looking much differently with a new offense and new coordinators, it is really hard to try and predict what they will look like.
Even though I think Penn State walks away with the victory, I think West Virginia is still able to cover the spread. With this game being won on defense, I think the game is under 51.5. Penn State is on upset alert, but they take the season opener on the road!
-Adam Mack
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