There was no singing of country roads or burning of coaches in Morgantown on Saturday evening.
The Penn State Nittany Lions for the second straight season opened up their year with a dominant win over the West Virginia Mountaineers, this time to the tune of 34-12.
Drew Allar threw for 216 yards and three while Harrison Wallace III had a career day, bringing in five for 117 yards and two touchdowns. All in all, new Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki's offense shined with 457 total yards of offense while averaging 7.6 yards per play.
New defensive coordinator Tom Allen's defense was just as impressive allowing just 246 yards and dominated West Virginia's stout rushing attack, keeping them to just 2.3 yards per carry.
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Early on in the game, West Virginia looked to capitalize on the excited and ruckus Milan Puskar Stadium crowd.
The Mountaineers would receive a golden opportunity early, recovering a Drew Allar fumbled a Drew Shelton snap deep in West Virginia territory. However, one play later, the Mountaineers would give the ball right back to the Nittany Lions.
Following a three-and-out, Penn State's defense would be tested by an extensive West Virginia drive that started at the Mountaineers 20-yard line. Quarterback Garrett Greene and company would march the ball all the way into the Nittany Lions' redzone but were stuffed on fourth down. It wouldn't take the Nittany Lions offense long to respond to the big defensive stop.
As the second quarter got underway, Penn State's Drew Allar would open the scoring finding a wide open Harrison Wallace III in the middle of the field. Wallace would take the reception 50-yards to the endzone, giving Penn State a 6-0 lead. The Nittany Lions peculiarly decided to go for a two-point conversion but would fail on the attempt.
Luckily for James Franklin and the Nittany Lions, the decision wouldn't come back to bite them on Saturday.
After forcing a West Virginia three-and-out, the Nittany Lions would find the endzone for the second time at the 6:15 mark of the second quarter as Drew Allar found an open Kaytron Allen in the flats. Allen would avoid several West Virginia defenders before diving into the endzone to make it a 14-0 game.
The Mountaineers would cut Penn State's lead down to 13-6 with a pair of field goals but would leave too much time for the Nittany Lions. With just 32 seconds to work with, Penn State thanks to a 55-yard reception from Omari Evans was able to move the ball into West Virginia territory before Drew Allar threw his third touchdown of the first half, making a perfect pass to Harrison Wallace III along the side of the endzone. Wallace, draped by a Mountaineers defensive back would make a fantastic catch on the play, dragging his foot while also hanging to the ball while falling to the ground.
The touchdown with just six seconds left in the first half, would send the Nittany Lions to halftime up 20-6.
As the teams headed into the locker room, storms began to roll into Morgantown. What was originally a 15 minute halftime, would turn into a 2 hour and 19 minute delay. For some programs, the lengthy delay would've zapped a team of momentum. That wasn't the case for Penn State.
After receiving the kickoff to the start the second half, the Nittany Lions picked up where they left off with a nine play, 78-yard drive that ended with a Nicholas Singleton 40-yard touchdown run to put Penn State up 27-6.
Early in the fourth quarter, West Virginia would find their way into the endzone for the first time as running back CJ Donaldson was able to punch it in from one yard cutting Penn Stae's lead down to 27-12. The Mountaineers would attempt a two-point conversion but Tony Rojas sniffed out the play, tackling quarterback Garrett Greene in the backfield.
The diminished lead would only last a few minutes as Penn State quickly answered with a touchdown of their own, this time Beau Pribula finding Tyler Warren for a 19-yard touchdown. The score would be the final one of the day for either squad, leading to the game's final score of 34-12.
UP NEXT
Penn State will play their first home game of the 2024 season next Saturday against the Bowling Green Falcons. Kickoff is currently scheduled for 12:00 p.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
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