UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State Nittany Lion football team will open its highly anticipated 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 31, at West Virginia.
The Nittany Lions, as with many other college football teams this year, have gone through major transitions in the off season, and everything will begin to come into focus at the season opener against the Mountaineers.
Last season, Penn State finished with a 10-3 record and a third-place finish in the Big Ten East, behind Ohio State and national champion Michigan.
The Lions met Ole Miss in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl and came up short, 38-25, after a number of players opted out of playing in the bowl.
Despite the many successes in 2023, the season was viewed by some as falling somewhat short of expectations because of the close losses to Ohio State and Michigan.
Still, PSU averaged 36.2 points per game and gave up just 13.5 ppg and 248 yards.
There were double-digit wins over every other Big Ten team except Indiana, 33-24, a six-game winning streak to begin the year, and a 42-0 rout over Michigan State to complete the 10-win regular season.
Now, as the new season begins, there will be three new coordinators on the sidelines, with offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, defensive coordinator Tom Allen and special teams coordinator Justin Lustig joining the program in the off season.
On the field, Penn State begins with returning quarterbacks Drew Allar and Beau Pribula.
Allar, in his first year as a starter, completed 60% of his passes for 2,631 yards and a great 25-2 touchdown to interception ratio.
Pribula got action mostly as a runner, with 56 attempts and 329 yards, but he also was 11 for 21 passing for 149 yards.
At running back, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen both return after combining for 1,658 yards in 2023, and both will be looking to reestablish that big-play offense Penn State had in 2022. True freshmen Quinton Martin and Corey Smith will add depth to this unit.
At wide receiver, KeAndre Lambert-Smith transferred, and tight end Theo Johnson graduated, but Julian Fleming transferred in from Ohio State and young receivers including Kaden Saunders, Harrison Wallace and tight end Tyler Warren will try to lift the unit above last season’s performance.
The offensive line lost three NFL draft picks, but with new faces in the recruiting class and returnees from last season joining Sal Wormley, Nick Dawkins, Drew Shelton and Vega Loane, the new group can be up to last year’s standards very quickly.
On defense, despite losing four starters from 2023, the Nittany Lion defenders, with new coordinator Tom Allen, appear to be among the top units in the country again.
The D will be led by defensive ends Dani Dennis-Sutton and Abdul Carter; tackles Dvon Ellies and Zane Durant; linebackers Kobe King, Jaylen Reed and Tony Rojas; and DBs Jalen Kimber, Kevin Winston, AJ Harris, Akee Wheatley, Cam Miller and Keon Wylie.
In all, Penn State returns six starters on offense, seven on defense and 39 total lettermen.
On Saturday, Penn State will take on a West Virginia team that the Lions beat 38-15 last season in the opener at Beaver Stadium.
Penn State broke open what was a close game with a 24-0 run in the middle quarters, led by Allar’s 325 yards passing and three touchdowns. Nicholas Singleton ran 13 times for 70 yards and a touchdown, while Lambert-Smith had four receptions for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
The Mountaineers, however, went on to beat both TCU and Pitt, win five of their last six games and take out North Carolina 30-10 in the bowl game.
They finished 9-4 and this year will return 13 starters from that team, including both quarterbacks Garrett Greene and Micco Marchiol and running backs Jahiem White and CJ Donaldson.
Greene completed 147 of 277 passes for 2,406 yards and 16 touchdowns, and he also ran for 772 yards on 120 carries with 13 touchdowns.
White gained 842 yards on 109 carries and Donaldson had 798 yards on 171 carries with 11 touchdowns.
Two of the three top wide receivers, Hudson Clement and Kole Taylor, will return, as well as the punter and placekicker.
On defense, WV returns five starters from a defense that gave up 381 yards per game and 26 points. The coaching staff is high on the front seven, and they could be a big challenge for the new Penn State offensive line.
The new college football season got off to a head-turning start on Saturday, Aug. 24, when Georgia Tech upset No. 10 Florida State, 24-21, in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland.
It was just one game, of course, but it was a red flag for highly ranked teams, like No. 8 Penn State, facing solid opponents on opening day.
Last season, the Lions came into this game with untested quarterbacking, a young defense and three top coordinators who aren’t with the program any longer.
This year, Penn State will come into the contest with many questions to address, a new Big Ten schedule with three former PAC-12 teams on it, three new coordinators and a possibly more accessible 12-team national championship playoff.
But first it’s an important game at West Virginia.
Kickoff is at noon on Fox.
