For West Virginia, they knew it was going to be a tall task facing No. 7 Penn State on the road to start the season.
The Mountaineers trailed by only seven at halftime, but that would not last as Penn State wore down West Virginia over the final 30 minutes, as the Nittany Lions opened the season with a 38-15 victory.
“Tough opener, they’re really good, really talented,” West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said.
“I’m zero discouraged with our guys. They’ve got a team that’s capable of making the playoff and we’ve got a really good football team.”
West Virginia stalled on offense early, while Penn State used a quick strike on their fourth play of the game. Sophomore quarterback Drew Allar made his first career start, and it took him almost no time to get comfortable.
Allar unloaded a pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith which went for a 72-yard touchdown to put Penn State in front, 7-0.
“He’s making his first start. Really, there’s a lot of pressure on him,” Brown said.
West Virginia’s gameplan was to force Allar to beat their defense. Penn State carried two talented running backs into the game in Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, making the decision to have Allar be the difference maker.
“I thought the kid (Allar) did a really good job moving left and throwing back right,” Brown said. “We were going to make him play well and he played well. He beat us.”
Allar ended the first half throwing for 214 yards and a touchdown, helping guide Penn State’s offense into West Virginia territory multiple times. Allar positioned the Nittany Lions to be leading by more than seven, but a pair of missed field goals kept WVU in the game.
“We had a chance to win,” Brown said. “We got out (of halftime) and it’s three and out. It’s 14-7, we get a three and out, we get an explosive run, and we get a procedure penalty.”
That procedure penalty would’ve set the Mountaineers up near the 50 yard line, but instead they punted it away. Allar would take advantage of good starting field position, leading Penn State on a seven-play, 56-yard touchdown drive, capped off with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Lambert-Smith.
“For that kid to come out and to throw for 300 plus yards, in his first career start, in front of a group that was really expecting a lot,” Brown said. “They had their fourth-largest crowd in the history of the stadium. There was a lot of eyeballs on him and like I said, hats off to him. He was going to have to play well for them to win and he did.”
On the flip side of things, West Virginia’s offense led by Garrett Greene were up and down all night.
Greene led a nine-play touchdown drive, using his legs the majority of the time. Greene rushed for 71 yards and a touchdown and added 162 yards through the air.
Greene and the Mountaineers had multiple opportunities on third and fourth down but failed to convert.
In the second quarter, Greene targeted an open Traylon Ray on a fourth-down pass, but it was a throw which went behind Ray and the Mountaineers failed to convert. In the second half, Greene had another chance, but the Penn State pressure got to him, and he couldn’t deliver an accurate ball.
“It just comes down to me not making enough plays,” Greene said of his performance.
“We came in, we were going to be aggressive,” Brown said. “We were going to go for it on third and fourth down. We had some plays, we didn’t convert.”
WVU went 4-for-14 on third down and 3-for-6 on fourth down. Penn State was not much better going 3-for-9 on third down and they converted their only fourth down attempt.
“The third downs and the fourth downs, if we can convert those then I think the game looks a lot different,” Brown said. “I’m not saying we win the game, but I think the game looks a lot different if we’re able to make some of those conversions.”
Despite the loss, Brown said he is encouraged for how his team hung in with Penn State and knows the quality of opponent the Nittany Lions are.
“Am I disappointed, absolutely. Am I discouraged with our football team, no,” Brown said. “Tip my hat to them. They’re a really good football team. I think they proved themselves, they’re ready. I think they deserve their seventh-ranked in the country, I think they’ll continue to move up.”
