There is a certain feeling when a new college football arrives and for Penn State Football, they have a very hard test to begin the season with a road game at West Virginia.
For the 1st week’s edition of Behind Enemy Lines, we spoke to a couple of people to get an idea about West Virginia in Christopher Hall of SI Now: Mountaineer Maven, Cody Nespor of Morgantown Dominion Post, and Wesley Shoemaker of Blue Gold Sports.
Behind Enemy Lines for Penn State Football at West Virginia
1. Your Initial thoughts on Penn State vs West Virginia
Christopher: While Penn State boasts the more talented roster, West Virginia has a puncher’s chance against the Nittany Lions with quarterback Garrett Greene running the offense and running backs CJ Donaldson and Jahiem White leading the backfield while the defense looks to make an early statement in front of a sold-out Milan Puskar Stadium.
Cody: I think this is sneakily one of the toughest openers for any ranked team. The crowd is going to be huge in Morgantown and the team has been laser-focused on Penn State for most of the summer.
Wesley: My initial thoughts on Penn State vs West Virginia is what a stage for week one.
Not only did both teams have lots of success in 2023, but both fanbases believe their team has a path to compete in their conference or even make it potentially to the Playoff.
I think overall this game being week one is great for the attention and hype to the rivalry, and adding in all the pageantry around the game in Morgantown adds to it. The first thing that jumps out to me is both teams want to run the ball and control the line of scrimmage. Each team has two good running backs and wants to be run first, at least it seems. I think the biggest thing for Penn State is making West Virginia’s wide receivers beat them.
That is one of the question marks around who will get the most playing time there for the Mountaineers as there was a lot of competition there this fall camp. For West Virginia, it is, does the secondary step up. Last year Drew Allar picked them apart. WVU added lots of bodies to that secondary and all have tons of experience elsewhere, the only question is will it translate?
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2. what did you take away from last year’s game at Penn State
Christopher: My biggest takeaway was West Virginia matched Penn State’s physicality and was surprised it was a one-score game at halftime, but as expected, the depth and talent heavily favored the Penn State sideline, and it showed in the final score
Wesley: What I took away from last year’s game is that West Virginia just didn’t seem to be on the level offensively to execute at the highest level needed to beat a PSU-caliber team.
I think there were instances the Mountaineers had on offense last year to get into the game but couldn’t execute especially on third and fourth down. Also, it was a very different Garrett Greene than what was seen later in the year.
Greene was still very new as a starter and it showed in the tough environment that was PSU. Another takeaway though was how well West Virginia ran the ball. Some of that is probably the lack of confidence they had in Greene throwing the ball and didn’t want to put too much on him early on in the year. However, I think WVU ran for roughly 150 yards in that game, and outside of the Michigan game, that was the most the Penn State defense allowed all season.
Cody: These teams are closer than people think. Last year’s game was closer than most people were expecting and closer than the final score suggests. WVU has gotten a lot better since then.
3. Who on Offense Should Penn State be Concerned About?
Christopher: Quarterback Garrett Greene. Every indication is the senior improved his accuracy in the short and intermediate passes, and if it translates into Saturday’s, coupled with his threat as a runner, he might become one of the top QB’s in the country.
Wesley: Primarily it should be Garrett Greene.
I know the completion percentage doesn’t look great but part of that is how often he threw the ball down the field. The dude is simply a gamer and has vastly improved from where he was at to start the 2023 season. His legs also help him turn nothing into something and he can make the life of the defensive coordinator hard with his ability to run the ball. He’s a true dual-threat and he excelled both running and throwing last year.
Besides that, Jahiem White is another name that PSU should be concerned about. He’s small but is really quick and was deployed a lot in both the run and pass game in 2023. He didn’t see the field in this game last year but he still led WVU in rushing having three of his last five games of the 2023 season where he rushed for at least 130 yards.
Cody: Quarterback Garrett Greene is much, much better than when Penn State saw him last year. It took about a month, but he really came into his own as a dynamic signal-caller last season.
4. For those who don’t follow West Virginia what makes this matchup very interesting
Christopher: This is a great opportunity for West Virginia to show its growth as a program against one of the top programs in the country.
This marks the second season WVU head coach Neal Brown was able to retain his top talent in the NIL era and going into a season-opener facing similar questions with No. 8 Penn State is a good barometer on the direction of the program
Wesley: What makes this matchup interesting is the vibe around this WVU program. West Virginia had way more success than basically anyone but themselves thought they would in 2023.
Also, there has not been this kind of spotlight at least nationally, on West Virginia since the 2018 season. Big Noon is in town and WVU alum Pat McAfee is also in town adding to it all. On the field, there is tons of returning production for the Mountaineers, especially on offense. WVU lost one receiver and two offensive linemen, but a lot is returning in terms of snap counts and experience. That is what makes this interesting is the team that played this Penn State team last year is the same in terms of is the same in terms of the name on the back of the jersey but different in development and growth.
5. What is one reason why West Virginia defeats Penn State Football?
Christopher: I’ll default to Garrett Greene.
If his supporting cast on the outside can live up to their expectations, along with a continued rushing attack, which led power five conferences last season, he will be explosive and can add pressure to Drew Allar and the offense to produce in front of a hostile crowd.
Wesley: West Virginia beats Penn State because they control the clock and convert in the red zone. Red zone success was an emphasis this fall camp and if WVU can control the clock, keep their defense off the field, and successfully convert when given scoring opportunities, they beat Penn State.
Cody: WVU is going to want to run the ball and shorten the game. If the Mountaineer offense picks up where they left off last year, Penn State is going to need to make the most of every single possession, or else the clock might end up being the Nittany Lions’ biggest opponent.
MORE: Picks, Predictions for Penn State vs. West Virginia
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