Penn State-West Virginia Takeaways: Drew Allar's big day highlights PSU win
By Greg Pickel
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Penn State is 1-0 to start the 2024 season. The No. 8 Nittany Lions overcame an initially hostile road crowd and a two-hour, 19-minute rain delay to beat West Virginia 34-12 on Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium. Here are our initial takeaways from the second victory over the Mountaineers in as many seasons.
1. The new look offense lived up to the hype
West Virginia is never going to be a team defined by its defense. But, that doesn’t mean you can take anything away from Andy Kotelnicki’s new-look Nittany Lions offense. It was fast, explosive, and while it struggled early in the run game, the ground attack powered Penn State to victory in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Drew Allar (more on him in a moment) threw three first half touchdowns and completed 65 percent of his passes while throwing for 216 yards. Running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen both scored. Harrison “Trey” Wallace had two touchdown receptions.
As promised, there was a lot of presnap motion (even including guard Vega Ioane on a few occasions). Backup quarterback Beau Pribula was used regularly and even tossed a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
After an offseason filled with promise about this offense looking different, the results matched the expectations. Before garbage time, the Lions were averaging 8.4 yards per play. By comparison, it averaged around five yards a play in 2023. That’s an encouraging start.
2. Drew Allar had a day
Allar looked slimmer, quicker, and more in control in his second year as a starter. He was active with his feet, finishing with 44 rushing yards on six attempts, and quicker on his reads. There were still some of the inaccurate throws and throwing off of his backfoot without pressure that we saw a year ago. But, this version of Allar can win Penn State big games and also ones against overmatched opponents like West Virginia. He looked like a leader, too, which is another step in the right direction to start his junior season.
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3. The Penn State safeties came to play as promised
Penn State entered the 2023 season feeling like it had three starter-caliber safeties. It certainly does. KJ Winston Jr., led all tacklers with 10 and forced a fumble. Jaylen Reed was right behind him with eight and a pair of pass breakups. And Zakee Wheatley recorded four stops. This group was active and flying around the field from start to finish and made a statement that they will be the leader of the Lions’ defense in 2024.
4. The Lions had a better plan for this weather delay
By nature, weather delays are hard to plan for. But, unlike at Michigan State in 2017, Penn State had a better plan to deal with this one. It came out of the extended halftime break and marched 78 yards for a touchdown. Singleton’s 40-yard scoring scamper capped the drive. West Virginia was on its heels from there and Penn State never looked back.
5. Odds and ends
–Penn State rotated A LOT in the first half due to the heat on defense. That experience will pay off down the road.
—Abdul Carter did not have his best day, as he frequently ended up on the wrong side of a penalty. He was disruptive, though, and more productive efforts are on the horizon.
–It was a quiet day for receivers Liam Clifford and Julian Fleming, who received plenty of attention this offseason. Neither ended up on the stat sheet when the first team was in. Both will be in the spotlight next week.
