West Virginia is now just a few days away from hosting No. 8 Penn State to get their 2024 season underway.
With the team continuing to prepare for the matchup, Mountaineer head coach Neal Brown talked about what he sees from the Nittany Lions.
“Talking about Penn State, obviously one of the top programs in the country, they deserve their top 10 preseason ranking. A lot of respect for Coach James Franklin what he’s done not only at Penn State, but what he did at Vanderbilt,” Brown said.
Franklin is entering his 11th season as Penn State’s head coach. Under Franklin, the Nittany Lions have consistently been one of the top defenses in college football each year.
“Defensively, I think, is where it starts for them. You know top-five defense in most categories in 2023. The D-line is deep; they’re talented multiple NFL players on that defensive line. I think at linebacker, a lot of returning experience, 41 (Kobe King) really makes them go. And then you know NFL talent, high high-level talent at safety and so (that) presents some real challenges,” Brown said.
PSU added three new coordinators to their coaching staff this offseason, including former Kansas offensive coordinator, Andy Kotelnicki. Competing against each other in the Big 12, Brown has experience playing against Kotelnicki.
“Offensively, Andy did a great job at Kansas; before that, he did a great job at Buffalo. He got after us pretty good last time he was here with Kansas. And so there’s a lot to review, you know, you’re watching a lot of Kansas film. You’re watching what Penn State did last year to kind of get the strengths of their football team. You know their running backs, both those guys are are elite talents. The tight ends are going to present some issues those are guys that not only have great size, but they run really well and at Kansas, the tight ends were featured pieces of their offense and there’s no doubt that they’ll be featured part at Penn State as well,” Brown said.
There is a lot of anticipation surrounding this matchup, with a ranked opponent stepping into Morgantown for a season opener. A team that West Virginia has a history dating back to the last century, that has not played in Morgantown since 1992 and has not played the Mountaineers since that until last season. Brown said his players are excited about the opportunity with all the attention surrounding the game and he expects the fans to be in full force as well.
“Our guys are excited about the opportunity. It’s going to be a great challenge. Not going to make or break our season anyway, but I’m not trying to minimize the importance of it. This is a big-time college football weekend. We got Fox Big Noon (KickOff) game, the crew is going to be here. (Pat) McAfee is going to be here on Friday. (A) lot going on and in the spotlight is on Morgantown and I fully expect our fans and our community to really blossom under the bright light,” Brown said.
Confidence has been slowly building internally for the Mountaineers since last season. Although they are the ‘underdogs’ against Penn State, Brown says he doesn’t think too deeply into that and just wants to play West Virginia’s style of football.
“We feel like if we play our game, that we’ve got a chance to win against anybody we’re playing against now. And we have a ton of respect for Penn State, but we’re going to play our style of football. And we’ve really been working on that probably for the last 19 months now. And we feel like we’ve honed that in even more so in fall camp,” Brown said. “So we’re excited about playing. The fact that we’re underdogs you know, that doesn’t really (matter). We’re going to play with a chip on our shoulder. We’re going to try to play really physical whether that’s Penn State, Albany, Pitt, Kansas, whoever we’re playing week to week. I don’t know if we have a bigger chip on our shoulder because we’re playing Penn State.”
The Saturday kickoff is set for noon EST. FOX will provide coverage as part of its Big Noon KickOff.
