Can the Penn State defensive tackles slow down West Virginia's run game?
Penn State football takes on the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday in the team’s season-opening game at Beaver Stadium. To get you ready for the game, the Keystone Kickoff Show is previewing the matchup between Penn State’s defense and the West Virginia offense. Which positional battles will determine the game’s outcome on this side of the ball? We break it down in the hour-long show.
The Keystone Kickoff Show is a regional radio show in Pennsylvania that airs three times a week across multiple radio stations. Today’s show is the Wednesday edition, where Jim Galanti and I discuss Penn State football weekly. The Blue White Illustrated YouTube channel is the exclusive home of the video home of the show. If you haven’t yet, subscribe to the Blue White Illustrated YouTube Channel to get all of our great content.
Penn State defense vs. West Virginia offense
On the show, we discuss the style of the West Virginia offense and the strengths of that unit. By far, the running game for the Mountaineers is the engine that drives the offense. Here’s an excerpt from a breakdown of how that unit functions.
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As you can see by the breakdown of returning players, West Virginia returns the most continuity on their team along the offensive line. By the end of the season, [Tomas] Rimic had taken the left guard job, and the combination of [Brandon] Yates and [Ja’Quay] Hubbard split the right tackle job.
This season, [Doug] Nester will kick out to tackle, and the former right tackle duo will battle to find out who starts at guard. At least from a run-game perspective, Yates was the far superior technical and athletic blocker of the two. However, Hubbard provides the team size at 322 pounds, so he’ll likely still be a factor up front.
What’s clear from watching the tape last year is that, from a run-game perspective, this group works together well. However, They’re not perfect, nor do they have elite talent, but they are coordinated and you must force them to make mistakes in the run game. The five players up front and [Treylan] Davis at tight end are the team’s soul.
Penn State season prediction
We go deeper on the show to explain how the group meshes up front and what types of blocking schemes the team uses. The show also discuss how head coach and offensive coordinator Neal Brown smartly uses different run game augmentations to keep aggressive defenses honest.
Check out the full video to hear that and more. We also give a season prediction in the show’s final quarter and answer fan questions about the upcoming game and season.
