No. 8 Penn State navigates lengthy weather delay, wins convincingly at West Virginia
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Penn State coach James Franklin anticipated a challenge Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium in opening up the season against a West Virginia squad that looks to build off a nine-win campaign from last year.
But Franklin and the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions handled their Week 1 test admirably, cruising to a 34-12 victory in front of 62,084 fans.
Mother Nature might have presented a more difficult obstacle as severe lightning storms delayed the game for a total of 2 hours, 19 minutes, initially pausing the contest at halftime.
In the end, having bested West Virginia and the weather, the Nittany Lions can return home feeling satisfied.
“When you’re the visiting team, you’re stuck in a very small locker room — and that’s not a critique on West Virginia — it’s like that everywhere,” Franklin said. “They have all their facilities to be able to use, so there’s some real challenges that come with that.
“I thought (West Virginia) battled us very, very tough, especially early on. But we were able to do some things as the game went on.”
Mountaineers coach Neal Brown called Penn State quarterback Drew Allar the key to last year’s game, which the Nittany Lions won 38-15 in State College.
Allar dominated the Mountaineers again, going 11 of 17 for 216 yards and three touchdowns (all in the second quarter) and rushing six times for 44 yards, extending drives with his legs.
The vaunted West Virginia run game, which was third best in college football last year, was held to 85 yards.
In total, Penn State racked up 457 yards compared to West Virginia’s 246.
Aside from an odd chunky gain, tailbacks CJ Donaldson and Jahiem White were held in check, as was quarterback Garrett Greene, who did little on the ground and threw for 161 yards without a touchdown.
“When you play this type of opponent, I think you’re forced and challenged both physically and mentally and as coaches right out of the gate,” Franklin said. “And I think we were going to be tested. I thought today, we were tested.”
The first quarter was scoreless and featured three fumbles, two of which were back-to-back, eight seconds apart just under five minutes into the game.
Allar mishandled a shotgun snap that the Mountaineers recovered, only for Greene to lose one shortly thereafter.
In the second quarter, Penn State started to do some damage, scoring three times.
On the first play of the quarter, Allar found Harrison Wallace for a 50-yard touchdown.
After West Virginia went three-and-out, the Nittany Lions scored again, going up 13-0 at the 9:46 mark when Allar connected with Kaytron Allen for a 20-yard score.
West Virginia’s Michael Hayes then hit back-to-back field goals from 38 and 39 yards, getting the Mountaineers within 13-6.
Hayes’ latter field goal came with just 37 seconds before halftime and seemed to put West Virginia in good shape heading into the break.
But disaster struck immediately thereafter as Allar hit Omari Evans for a 55-yard gain following the Mountaineers’ kickoff.
With 10 seconds left and at West Virginia’s 18-yard line, Allar placed a perfect back-shoulder pass to Wallace in the left corner of the end zone, putting the Nittany Lions up 20-6 after two quarters.
“To say I am disappointed in how we played would be an understatement,” Brown said. “We played really poorly, and it was on a big stage. We are very aware of that, and we played poorly. It starts with me. I am the head coach, and I am responsible for it.”
With a few minutes left in halftime, rain started pouring over Morgantown, accompanied by lightning strike.
Finally, after a two-hour-plus pause that was repeatedly extended because of ceaseless lightning, the game, which kicked off at noon, restarted a bit before 4:30 p.m.
West Virginia found itself in desperate need of a stop to begin the third quarter, but instead, Penn State marched to a nine-play, 78-yard touchdown drive.
Whereas the Nittany Lions had to that point done most of their damage through the air, Nicholas Singleton found a hole and busted out for a 40-yard touchdown run, which made it 27-6 with 10:16 remaining in the quarter.
Early in the fourth, Greene led the Mountaineers to Penn State’s 15-yard line, converting a fourth-and-10 on a pass to Hudson Clement that put the ball on the goal line.
Donaldson then ran in for his team’s first TD, lessening the deficit to 27-12 with 12:39 to go.
But with nine minutes left, backup quarterback Beau Pribula — around whom new coordinator Andy Kotelnicki designed several offensive wrinkles — threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Warren, giving the Nittany Lions a 34-12 lead.
Greene fumbled for the fourth time on the Mountaineers’ ensuing possession, losing it after being sacked by Smith Vilbert.
From there, it wasn’t long before both teams began yanking starters, with Nicco Marchiol taking over behind center for West Virginia.
Aside from Allar, Wallace (13 catches, 144 yards, two touchdowns) and Singleton (13 carries, 114 yards and a score) were Penn State’s top performers.
Safety Kevin Winston led the team with 12 tackles.
“Defense did a really good job today — they really had our backs,” Allar said. “It just showed how the offense has the defense’s back, and the defense has our back.”