Know Your Opponent: West Virginia Mountaineers

The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers will face off in both teams' season opener on Saturday afternoon. The game is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. and will be the first game televised on NBC under the Big Ten's new media deal.

Here's what you need to know about the Mountaineers.

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Believe it or not, West Virginia is entering year five under Neal Brown already, and it's fair to say this is a make-or-break year for Brown in Morgantown. During his four previous seasons, the Mountaineers have gone 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, and 5-7.

Brown's tenure has not gone to plan by any means, as under his tutelage, the Mountaineers have struggled to put together any consistency on the field, whether it be week-to-week or year-to-year. Off the field, their recruiting has been solid but not great. In the 2023 recruiting cycle, they signed 19 commitments for the country's 44th-best recruiting class, according to the Rivals team recruiting rankings. That included signing four-star prospect Rodney Gallagher out of Uniontown (PA), one of the Nittany Lions' top targets in last year's cycle.

In order for Brown to last in Morgantown beyond this year, the Mountaineers will need to have a pretty strong season, which would probably need to include an upset of the Nittany Lions to start their season.

As noted above, the Mountaineers finished 5-7 last year, including 3-6 in conference play. Their offense was rather solid, finishing 51 in the country with 30.6 points per game. Defensively, however, they struggled mightily, allowing 32.9 points per game, ranking them 116 of 131 teams nationally.

The Mountaineers would get off to a slower start last year, losing the Backyard Brawl to Pittsburgh 38-31 before falling to Kansas nine days later 55-42 in the first game that really signified to America that the Jayhawks were not going to be a team you could push around.

They would bounce back, winning three of their next four over Townson, Virginia Tech, and Baylor, with a loss to Texas in the middle. However, following their over Baylor, the Mountaineers would lose four of their last six games to finish 5-7 on the season. They would not end up going to a bowl game for just the third time since 2001. They also missed bowl games in 2013 and 2019, the latter being Neal Brown's first year in Morgantown.

This offseason, the Mountaineers saw a change at offensive coordinator as Graham Harell left Morgantown for Purdue. Chad Scott has now been promoted to offensive coordinator after serving as the running backs coach each of the last three years, also spending time as the co-offensive coordinator and run-game coordinator. This will be the first time he has served as the lone offensive coordinator in his coaching career.

On the defensive side of the ball, Jordan Lesley remains the defensive coordinator. One may think the Mountaineers would make a change after their dismal efforts on that side of the ball last year, but he'll get another crack as the defensive coordinator. Prior to last season, the Mountaineers had allowed 23.8 points per game in 2021 and 20.5 points per game in 2020.

The Mountaineers this offseason were busy in the transfer portal both with outgoing players and incoming players. The notable incoming players include WR Devin Carter, WR Ja'Shaun Poke, S Keyshawn Cobb, K Michael Hayes, former Penn State DL Fatorma Mulbah, DL Davoan Hawkins, CB Beanie Bishop, and S Anthony Wilson. Upgrading their talents on the defensive side of the ball was a major focal point for the program this offseason, to say the least.

On the offensive side of the ball, they saw former USC and Georgia signal caller JT Daniels lead the way with a mediocre campaign, completing 61.2% of his passes for 2,107 yards, 13 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Junior quarterback Garrett Greene also saw a considerable amount of playing time, completing 55.1% of his passes for 493 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions.

Fast forward to now, and JT Daniels is now at Rice preparing to lead the Owls, while Greene is set to be the starting quarterback for the Mountaineers this fall.

Also, on the offensive side of the ball, the Mountaineers were led offensively by running back Tony Mathis, with 135 carries last year for 562 yards and five touchdowns. However, Mathis entered the transfer portal in early May and is now set to continue his career at Houston. That means that CJ Donaldson, a tight end turned running back and another 500-yard rusher for the Mountaineers, will return as the starter. All in all, the West Virginia offense last year averaged 4.6 yards per carry and 171.5 yards per game on the ground in 2022 and should be solid again in 2023.

At wide receiver, the Mountaineers saw the departures of Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Kaden Prather, and Sam James this offseason. That is a combined 160 receptions, 1,921 yards, and 16 touchdowns lost for the Mountaineers. Instead, they'll turn to former North Carolina State wide receiver (and Penn State transfer portal commit) Devin Carter, Cortez Braham, and Ja'Shaun Poke to likely lead the team at wide receiver.

Carter finished last season with 25 receptions for 406 yards and two touchdowns for the Wolfpack, while Braham totaled 14 receptions for 147 yards as a rotational receiver for the Mountaineers. Poke, a transfer out of Kent State, had a solid season in 2022 with 31 receptions for 362 yards and one touchdown.

Notably, we didn't mention tight ends; historically, the Mountaineers haven't used the position all too much under Brown's leadership and are not expected to use it again this upcoming season. There may be occasional plays that utilize the position, but it is not expected to be utilized heavily.

While the Mountaineers will have to replace the entire starting wide receiver room from last year, they will return most of their offensive lineman, only losing left guard James Gmiter who hung up the cleats last November. That being said, it is a deeply experienced offensive line group for West Virginia which will include three third-year starters, including former Penn State target Wyatt Milum.

On the defensive side of the ball, as noted above, the Mountaineers brought in quite a few transfers as they looked to work out their kinks on the defensive side of the ball. They'll return six starters this year and also landed in the transfer portal a few players who have been starters elsewhere, such as Beanie Bishop at Minnesota.

The Mountaineers' defense last year was continuously dominated through the air, allowing nearly 263 passing yards per game. They allowed over 300 passing yards five times, including 355 yards to Texas Tech and 421 yards to Baylor. Their cornerbacks' room looks quite different with the additions of Bishop, Montre Miller, and Keyshawn Cobb. The safeties room will return all three starters from last year, Aubrey Burks, Will Dixon, and Marcis Floyd, while also adding Anthony Wilson, who transferred into the program from Georgia Southern.

Their run defense was rather solid. While they allowed 149.6 yards per game, they only allowed 4.1 yards per carry. However, they did lose both of their starting interior defensive linemen, Dante Stills, to the NFL and Jordan Jefferson, to the transfer portal. They also lost linebacker / defensive end Jasir Cox. The Nittany Lions running back duo of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen will be a tough test for this Mountaineers' front.

Notably, they do return defensive end Sean Martin, who was very good last season with 34 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, and four sacks. He also had one forced fumble.

With their departures on the defensive line, expect Mike Lockart and Edward Vesterinen to be their starting defensive tackle and nose guard come September 2. Lockhart was a rotational piece for West Virginia in 2022, while Vesterinen entered the program from Tennessee State.

How will this Mountaineer's defense be in 2023? It's hard to say. It would be hard to imagine them worse than they were last year, but they did lose quite a bit of experience on their defense as well, which will make it tougher to find that improvement. They'll have to hope that their transfer portal additions come in and all pull their own individual weight; if not, it could be another tough season for the Mountaineers and defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley.

Special teams were a struggle for the Mountaineers as well in 2022, and now they'll be without kicker Casey Legg. It sounds like they're going to go with the potential approach of Michael Hayes, a Georgia State transfer, to be their kickoff specialist while he competes with Danny King for the starting placekicker job. Kickoffs and kickoff coverage was a major struggle for West Virginia in 2022, and hope to improve that at the very least with the addition of Hayes. Punter Oliver Straw returns after a quality season last year, averaging 42.3 yards per punt.

Overall, this West Virginia team is quite hard to gauge at this point. Heading into a pivotal year, there have been quite a few moving parts in terms of the roster, and uncertainty at quarterback and on the defense as a whole isn't usually a great recipe for success. This West Virginia team has talent, there is no doubt about that, but it will be a tough task for the Mountaineers to have all their kinks fixed before heading into what will be a hostile Beaver Stadium crowd that will be filled with plenty of adult drinks and hope for a potential magical 2023 season. This is very much a team that Penn State should be able to handle, and that's why the Nittany Lions are a 20.5-point favorite over the Mountaineers. This Mountaineers might be able to get it together enough as the season progresses to allow Neal Brown to keep his job, but upsetting the Nittany Lions in week one will be a mighty task.

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