Penn State - West Virginia INSTANT ANALYSIS

time for the age-old college football question that we encounter each and every September how good is Penn State well they're way better than West Virginia that's for sure welcome to the voice of college football break down the game we all love each and every day with you best discussion debate and Analysis we appreciate you being here please like the video and subscribe keep in mind that we are live every Monday through Friday at 10:00 a.m. eastern time is it's the college football show all right let's dissect Penn State there is good there is Penn State good which is not been good enough to make the college football playoff but would have made the playoff six out of the last eight years with a 12 team expansion so is Penn State that good probably are they Ohio State Oregon Georgia good that remains to be seen and we won't know that for about 6 weeks let's get to what we saw today and see if we get an indication going forward let's start with the quarterback position of course much made out of Drew Aller and his performances against Ohio State and Michigan well of course we cannot compare West Virginia's defense against two of the top five defenses in the country West Virginia is a decent football team Penn State won this game in a similar fashion to where they were comfortable this season they were pretty much comfortable in Happy Valley Drew Aller had to throw it more last year because West Virginia was stingier against the run and Aller had a big day with 325 yards passing against this West Virginia Defense but he was much more economical based on the play calling Drew Aller looked the part he looked feisty he looked in command he looked confident he looked in control he looked fiery when he had to be fiery but again he looked like a poised leader he even looked athletic at times and as they said during the broadcast sneaky athletic at times is what Joel clatt said he is a five-star quarterback and there's a reason he is the starting quarterback at Penn State 25 touchdowns two picks one of the most quoted statistics from last season which meant something but it meant that he was probably too conservative but he did take care of the football did not perform in the two big games of the Season all right in this one he performed not out of the gate though he missed a wide open Amari Evans early in the game and really both offenses sputter the first three or four drives there were a lot of issues with snaps especially on the West Virginia side Drew Aller then kicked it into gear and he delivered 11 of 16 for 26 three touchdowns and no interceptions and he hit the downfield play to Harrison Wallace for the touchdown to put Penn State up six to nothing they went for a strange two-point conversion why I don't know it obviously didn't end up mattering I thought that was the stupid move at the time but six to nothing Penn State St and once Aller drilled that pass downfield in the seam and right on the face mask of Evans he seemed to pick it up from there and after that the Penn State offense was in Rhythm they were consistently driving 75 yards for touchdowns after that for the rest of the second quarter into the third quarter then of course we got hit with the delay about Midway through the third quarter so these two teams had to go to the locker room because of uh WEA activity for couple hours um Penn State was rolling at that point 20 to6 uh but it didn't seem to matter even though West Virginia could have used that as a time to regroup and get back in the ball game so let's start with pen State offense because this is the story of this game because the Penn State Defense is a bit of a given I did not expect it to be as good as last season's defense I on record is saying that the entire off season that this is going to be one of the 10 best defenses in the nation but I believed that Penn State Defense from last year with all the NF players that they lost was probably the most athletic defense in college football in 2023 but this one's a really good one for sure just ask Garrett green back to the offense of course we've got the U offensive coordinator coming in from Kansas maybe he makes a difference listen to these explosive plays out of Penn State so so even when Penn State was not playing Ohio State of Michigan last year the offense was good and effective and put up points but not explosive never explosive now they're showing some wide receiver potential with Harrison Wallace we mentioned Evans Julian Fleming Tyler Warren and tight end is one of the best tight ends in the Big 10 they racked up 16 plays of over 10 yards five of them plus 20 yards so Drew Aller looked great uh the offensive line looked spectacular they were opening up running lanes for both backs especially Nick Singleton who mentioned during the game or leading into the game that hate he understands that Singleton KRON Allen they hit the Big 10 two years ago as the most dynamic freshman combination of running backs in the nation and they lit it up for almost 1,000 yards a piece they took a big step back back last year and that wasn't just the offensive line not blocking they definitely were not the backs last year for whatever reason maybe they were nicked up with injuries who knows uh from their 2022 form as a combo but Nick Singleton showed up and he predicted that they would show up this year 13 carries for a buck 14 and he had some long explosive runs and again the offensive line for Penn State supposed to be a highly improved unit and they looked the part let's understand that Penn State was playing maybe a top 30 to 35 team on this day this was a good assignment for Penn State to go in and dominate there's a ton of teams across college football that are good teams that would go into morgant town and not be dominating this game as much as Penn State did they were on track for 500 yards total offense I don't know where they finished but this was from a offensive standpoint based on what the issues were last season with Aller with the offensive line with the backs with the wide receivers not getting separation downfield this was a near A+ effort if they would have come out of the gate like they did from about Drive number three on you'd have to say it's basically an A+ effort I know they only put up 34 points but if you saw it you saw the efficiency drive after drive after drive after Drive they were consistent the defense I I tell you every time West Virginia had a third or fourth in inches forget it they couldn't get the first down and that's with one of the best running quarterbacks Garrett Green in college football and for the one time that the officials gave West Virginia the first down on a fourth and inches it was one of the worst ball spots I've ever seen in watching a million hours of college football it was pathetic and even after they reviewed the play they still got it wrong uh Garett green was about a yard a full yard short of the first down and that gave up a field goal out of the scoring by West Virginia on this day they only scored one touchdown kicked two field goals that was a gift of a field goal from the officials because Penn State stopped West Virginia at the 29 yd line the Penn State secondary played lights out the receivers couldn't get free for the most part of course West Virginia hit some plays downfield especially on its scoring Drive in terms of looking forward to the future in regards to what Penn State the next two weeks they're in good shape they'll win the non-conference game starting with Bowling Green of course September 28th a date against Illinois they should win that game the first real challenge should be at USC on October 12th no Oregon Michigan Iowa on the schedule it sets up as though Penn State could still not be in Ohio State's class and go 11 and one or even trip up and go 10 and two and go to the playoff will they make a deep playoff run we're sitting here on August 31st trying to make that projection I don't think that this team necessarily has it to that extent but I do think that this is one of the roughly Fringe top 10 teams in the nation for West Virginia they still have hope they played an excellent football team that recruits Way Beyond them that's faster bigger stronger has more NFL players and was just too Stout at the line of scrimmage too fast too explosive on the edges both in regards to running back play especially and then also their secondary and clamping down the wide outs and really getting into the running Lanes but West Virginia has got a nice stable of running backs good offensive line Garrett green running and hopefully improving on 53% completion percentage from last year don't be surprised if West Virginia makes some noise in the Big 12 but certainly not on the national scale my thoughts on pen State we'll just have to wait and see but the indications were all good today because morgant town is a difficult place to play and Penn State was definitely up to the challenge in every phase of the game they did miss a field goal late and that's expected to possibly be an issue for Penn State Nittany Lions factor in the Big 10 do you think so on the national scene college football playoff win or two in in the playoff leave your comments down below right here the voice of college football keep in mind again the college football show every Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. eastern time my rants great guests we take your calls right here at the voice of college football