No. 8 Penn State used a balanced offensive attack with explosive plays and mostly stout defense to handle West Virginia 34-12 for a season-opening victory in Morgantown that was interrupted by a two hour, 19 minute lightning delay at halftime.
The Nittany Lions had 10 plays of 15 yards or more, including four of more than 40, in their first game under new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. Penn State’s 457 yards of offense was a balanced effort, with 235 through the air and 222 on the ground.
Quarterback Drew Allar was 11-17 for 216 yards and three touchdowns, with the bulk of his production coming in the first half. After being sidelined by injury for most of 2023, Harrison “Trey” Wallace III hauled in five receptions for a career-high 117 yards.
Nicholas Singleton led the Nittany Lion run game with 114 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, including two of the team’s explosive plays — a pair of 40-yard rushes.
Despite six penalties and allowing a handful of chunk plays, the Penn State defense held the Mountaineer offense in check. West Virginia totaled 246 yards of offense — 161 passing and 85 rushing.
The Nittany Lions forced three turnovers and a turnover on downs. Safety Kevin Winston led the way with 12 tackles and a forced fumble. Defensive end Smith Vilbert had a sack and a forced fumble and Elliot Washington II snagged the game’s only interception.
Penn State will now open the home schedule at noon on Sept. 7 against Bowling Green on the Big Ten Network.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams struggled to find their offensive footings early on. After a West Virginia punt, a botched Penn State shotgun snap gave the Mountaineers the ball in Nittany Lion territory, but the home side immediately returned the favor with a bad snap of its own.
Penn State couldn’t do anything with the ball near midfield and punted. West Virginia QB Garrett Greene recovered another bad snap to start the next drive, but then the Mountaineers started to put together some momentum. A 20-yard pass from Greene to Hudson Clement on third down kept the drive alive and West Virginia leaned heavily on the run to continue moving downfield, converting a fourth down along the way.
The Nittany Lion defense came through when it counted though, stuffing a fourth-and-1 Greene sneak at the 16 for no gain for a turnover on downs after a 13-play, 64-yard drive that ate up 7:40.
From there, Penn State struck quickly. Drew Allar hit receiver Trey Wallace for gains of 18 and 14 to move the Nittany Lions to midfield as the first quarter ended. Allar opened the second with a dart across the middle to a streaking Wallace, who had open field in front of him and took it to the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown reception.
A two-point conversion attempt with Beau Pribula at QB failed, so the four-play, 84-yard drive gave Penn State a 6-0 lead seven seconds into the second quarter.
Penn State’s defense shut down the Mountaineer offense on the next series and the Nittany Lion offense went to work again from its own 29. Keyed by QB runs by Pribula and Allar and a 17-yard strike from Allar to Wallace, the Nittany Lions moved into West Virginia territory.
Facing fourth and 4 from the Mountaineer 27, Allar connected with tight end Tyler Warren for a 7-yard gain and a first down. Allar then dumped off a short pass to Kaytron Allen, who rumbled 20 yards for the score.
The 10-play, 71-yard drive and Sander Sahaydak’s extra point put Penn State in front 13-0 with 9:46 left in the half.
West Virginia answered with its first points of the game. Greene hit Preston Fox for a 16-yard gain on third and long, and Kole Taylor wrangled a tipped pass for a 25-yard gain as the Mountaineers moved inside the Penn State 25. But the Nittany Lion defense stiffened and West Virginia settled for a 38-yard Michael Hayes II field goal to narrow the Penn State lead to 13-3 with 6:15 left in the half.
The Mountaineers got another scoring opportunity after Penn State went three and out. Another run-heavy drive got West Virginia to the Penn State 30, where it faced fourth and 1. CJ Donaldson converted with a short run and a questionable spot to keep the drive going, but the Mountaineers would ultimately come up short of the end zone again, settling for a 39-yard Hayes field goal that cut the Penn State lead to 13-6 with 37 seconds left in the half.
Penn State looked as if it might run out the half, starting the ensuing drive with a Nick Singleton run for no gain. On the next play, though, Allar launched a bomb downfield to Omari Evans, who appeared to get away with a pushoff of a WVU defender, for a 55-yard gain. Allar struck again, this time with an 18-yard throw to the side of the end zone, where a twisting Wallace snagged his second TD reception of the day with six seconds remaining in the half.
The quick-strike three-play, 73-yard drive in 26 seconds and Sahaydak’s PAT extended Penn State’s lead to 20-6 at halftime.
Allar went 8-13 for 199 yards and three TDs in the first 30 minutes. Two of those scoring throws went to Wallace, who caught five passes for 117 yards in the first half.
Then the storm came. Soon after the teams headed to the locker room, the game was suspended for lightning strikes in the area.
The delay lasted two hours and 19 minutes, with the game resuming at 4:23 p.m.
It didn’t seem to affect the Nittany Lion offense much. Penn State took the opening drive of the second half 78 yards in nine plays, the last of which was a Singleton burst through a seam up the middle for a 40-yard touchdown run. After Sahaydak’s PAT, Penn State took a 27-6 lead with 10:16 left in the third.
Both offenses were kept quiet for much of the remainder of the quarter, until West Virginia used chunk plays to get deep into Penn State territory. Greene threw 25-yard passes to Traylon Ray and Preston Fox to get the Mountaineers into the red zone as the third came to an end.
Faced with a fourth-and-10 from the 15 early in the fourth, Greene connected with Clement for a first-and-goal at the 1. After two rush attempts fell short, Donaldson eked in for the score (though replays appeared to show the ball didn’t cross the goal line). Linebacker Tony Rojas sacked Greene to blow up a two-point attempt, holding the score to 27-12 with 12:49 remaining.
Penn State answered quickly. Singleton broke off his second 40-yard run of the game to get the Nittany Lions into Mountaineer territory on the first play of the next drive. Penn State continued to pound the ground game until Pribula came in at QB and hit a wide open Warren for a 19-year touchdown pass.
The six-play, 70-yard drive and Sahaydak’s PAT widened Penn State’s lead to 34-12 with nine minutes left.
A 10-yard Greene carry and a pass interference penalty had West Virginia at midfield on its ensuing drive, but it unraveled for the Mountaineers. Defensive end Smith Vilbert sacked Greene and forced a fumble that was recovered by Dani Dennis-Sutton.
From there, Penn State turned its offense over to the backups with Pribula at QB and Cam Wallace handling running back duties. The Nittany Lions’ drive ended with a missed 47-yard field goal attempt by Sahaydak, but the game was in hand.
Penn State safety Elliott Washington picked off backup Mountaineer QB Nicco Marchiol on West Virginia’s next possession, and Penn State salted away the game with a series of Wallace carries.
