West Virginia gets potential breather against Duquesne after Penn State blowout loss

Duquesne (1-0) at West Virginia (0-1), Saturday, 6 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

Line: No line, according to FanDuel SportsBook.

Series Record: West Virginia leads 4-3-1.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

West Virginia has a rugged September schedule with the only potential breather coming Saturday night against the Championship Subdivision Dukes. The Mountaineers are coming off a blowout loss at No. 7 Penn State and have other challenges this month at home against archrival Pittsburgh and Texas Tech and on the road against TCU. It’s too soon to think about the big picture but West Virginia must put together some strong showings to avoid a third straight losing season and perhaps save coach Neal Brown’s job.

KEY MATCHUP

West Virginia’s defense against Duquesne’s ground game. Duquesne amassed 234 rushing yards in an opening 49-7 win over Division II Edinboro. West Virginia held Penn State’s running backs in check but allowed Drew Allar to throw for 325 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Duquesne: Receivers Darryl Powell Jr. and Keshawn Brown. The pair didn’t get a lot of touches but made the most of them in the opener. Powell had three catches for 57 yards and two TDs while Brown scored one TD and caught passes of 39 and 33 yards.

West Virginia: QB Garrett Greene. The mobile junior is looking for his first career breakout passing performance. He admits he didn’t make enough solid plays against Penn State in which he was limited to 162 yards, including some bad throws on short passing attempts. West Virginia has a good running game and could use a more balanced offense with Greene’s arm.

FACTS & FIGURES

The teams haven’t met on the football field since 1935. … West Virginia has won 18 of its last 20 home openers, including a loss to Kansas last year. … Duquesne, a member of the Northeast Conference, will face two Bowl Subdivision opponents in the same season for the fifth time in the last six years. This year’s other meeting is at Coastal Carolina on Sept. 16. Duquesne’s only win against an FBS opponent since moving to the FCS level in 1993 was at Ohio in 2021. … West Virginia is 23-0 all-time against FCS opponents. … The Mountaineers had eight first-time starters at Penn State.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll