Welcome back friends! Let’s take a longer look at the first game of the season, as the Nittany Lions put the West Virginia Mountaineers away pretty early, and as our friend Bennett put it, the hornet’s nest that Penn State was supposed to walk into “became more like that annoying wasp that gets caught between your storm door and front door.
I’ll add my little bit of spice to that. For the past couple of seasons, Penn State has been the recipient of “oh they might get upset by X, Y, or Z team” narratives, only for the Nittany Lions to roll. Two years ago, it was Purdue, then Auburn, then Utah. Last season, it was Illinois and Iowa. This season, it’s West Virginia, Wisconsin, USC, Washington, you name it.
The season just started, but and the Nittany Lions can very well lose its fair share of games outside of Ohio State, but one of those hopeful teams that will take down Penn State could barely put up a fight on Saturday. The hopes and wishes from people outside of the fanbase (and some inside the fanbase, let’s not get it twisted), will have to wait another week. Who knows, maybe they’ll play down against Bowling Green and get upset there.
The Nittany Lions, for a hot minute, did look like a team susceptible to being upset. The first quarter started with a too-jittery offense, fumbling on a bad snap on their first drive. West Virginia would kindly reciprocate, fumbling their own snap and giving the ball right back to the Nittany Lions. The Mountaineers had several opportunities in the first quarter, but couldn’t take advantage of any of them, especially after the Lion defense started to settle down.
Shortly after, Penn State’s offense followed suit, and settled down themselves. A four-play, 84-yard drive put the Nittany Lions on the board. After a failed two-point conversion, the Lions led 6-0. The Lions scored on the next drive, going up 13-0 as the second quarter rolled on. But they weren’t done. With 32 seconds left in the second quarter, the Nittany Lions scored a third touchdown, aided by a 55-yard pass to Omari Evans, then another one to Harrison Wallace III for his second receiving touchdown of the game.
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Penn State received the ball in the second half, and wasted no time putting the game away. A 9-play, 78-yard drive capped by a 40-yard run from Nicholas Singleton put the Nittany Lions up 27-6, and from there, it was all a formality.
West Virginia, who scored two field goals in the first half, tacked a touchdown onto their score, followed by another Penn State touchdown where Andy Kotelnicki broke tendencies and let Beau Pribula throw a dart to Tyler Warren for what would become the final score.
It’s unlikely that Penn State goes undefeated. It’s possible that the Nittany Lions lose to non-Ohio State teams before postseason play. But, this week, that upset alert was more of a whisper.
Stats and Storylines
Well on his way – Harrison Wallace’s 117 receiving yards in this game is a little over half of his receiving yards for 2023. What a difference does a year, a coordinator change, and health, can make!
7 – The Nittany Lions had seven total plays that went for more than 20 yards. They’re well on their way to their season total, and it was only one game.
Did you see that – Drew Allar looked in control of the offense, leading to questions of how much responsibility actually rests on his shoulders for last season. However, did you see how fired up he was throughout the game? One of the themes of the offseason was Allar leveling up his leadership and being more vocal. Mission accomplished in week one.
Did you hear that – There was a “hot mic” moment early in the fourth quarter, where, after making a big play on defense, Jalen Kimber was heard saying some “not for TV” things that were hilarious to me, but awul to the pearl clutchers out there. To them, I say “**** no *****!
Highlights
