Greg McElroy picks Penn State over West Virginia

On Saturday, Penn State and West Virginia will kick off their respective seasons in a showdown at Milan Pusker Stadium. On Thursday, ESPN’s Greg McElroy weighed in on the non-conference matchup.

“The biggest question mark around the Lions is the play of Drew Allar,” McElroy said. “While he was 10-2 in the regular season and they made it to the Peach Bowl, there was a lot of people that were kind of underwhelmed with what they saw from a guy who came to State College with five stars next to his name and expected to take this offense to the next level.”

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The 2023 campaign was Allar’s first season as Penn State’s full-time starting quarterback. There were highs and lows to the sophomore’s game. In 13 starts, he tallied 233 completions for 2,631 yards and 25 touchdowns. He recorded 311 pass attempts before throwing an interception — a collegiate record.

While Allar’s passes rarely were in danger of being intercepted, they weren’t always on target, either. Allar only completed 59.9% of his passes last season. Moreover, he seldom looked down field, averaging 7.1 yards per pass attempt, which ranked 109th in the country.

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McElroy believes Allar will need to show improvement in these areas in the season-opener if Penn State want to walk away with a win. Of course, McElroy’s questions aren’t limited to the Nittany Lions.

What will be the key for West Virginia?

“Question No. 2: can West Virginia run the football?” McElroy said. “For the first time since 2007, West Virginia returns their top quarterback, their top running back and their top wide receivers. The quarterback, plus the two running backs that are both back, all went for more than 750 yards rushing last year.”

Quarterback Garrett Greene and running backs Jahiem White and CJ Donaldson Jr. excelled in the rushing attack last season. Yet, if last year is any indication, it won’t be easy to run the ball against Penn State.

The Nittany Lions only allowed 75.5 opponent rushing yards per game, the least in the nation. If West Virginia plans to utilize the ground game, Penn State will be more than willing to bet on its defensive front.

In the end, McElroy expects Penn State to escape with a victory but he certainly doesn’t expect a runaway win.

“Both teams are good along the line of scrimmage, offensively and defensively, and I think West Virginia is better on defense than people give them credit,” McElroy said. “They’ll keep Penn State somewhat bottled up.

“But ultimately, Penn State just has more weapons and more depth. They’ll make a big play or two that will give them the victory. But I expect it to be insanely close, and I expect it to be pretty low scoring.”