Penn State in NO DANGER of losing to West Virginia? IN MORGANTOWN?? l College Football Podcast

is there really no concern at all whatsoever for Penn State week one on the road against West Virginia that's Zach Seiko of locked on Penn State joining me here to discuss the betting line would indicate that is the case zck it's a 10 and a half point line in favor of Penn State I expect the nitty Lions to be favored that's a larger number than I expected going on the road in week one I know this was a big nitty Lions win a year ago but is this really as safe of a victory as the betting line says I think it is it's just a matter of how many points right you know going into morgant town is pretty difficult uh Neil Brown has resurrected at least his coaching career in a sense uh but this is for now for now right you know a bandid if you will but I the way I look at this is almost Deja Vu Penn State's pretty identical to last season aside from two cordinator changes West Virginia is going to do pretty much the exact same thing Garrett green back and quarterback they they have that same stable of running backs and those are very good running backs they're going to be a ground and pound offense they're going to rely a little bit on the Dual threat ability of Garrick green but that only gets them so much this defense doesn't overwhelm you they're not great they're what you know okay to good and it's kind of the same thing with the offense so if the offense can play ball control for West Virginia and and then the defense basically just does the bend don't break that only works against certain caliber opponents that's one of them isn't Penn State okay so that's not going to work at Penn State whether that's in Happy Valley or Morgantown Penn State should be able to win by double digits here because this is I I'd say almost an ident exact identical matchup to 2023 3815 was the final score in front of the home fans for Penn State a year ago in a victory over the Mountaineers they had met since the 90s by the way it had been a hot second since they played football I don't know what inspired them to renew this matchup but you know college football scheduling makes as little sense as anything in the world anyway so something I talk about often when when looking at schedule Zack even though football is only played once a week cuz typically you hear this discussion in baseball which I'm a huge fan of momentum right who's hot going into the playoff how are they playing right now well you know you got to stretch I think that does matter a great deal in football more than some people even realize and I don't know how good West Virginia is going to be this year I don't think they're going to be bad I don't know if they're going to be great I think think they can be in the middle of the Big 12 but do you think there is anything to this being a week one game that gives it a different feel than if it were in say you know November and West Virginia has lost let's just say hypothetically four or five games by then Penn State's only lost one or two pushing for a playoff spot do you think that week one juice that kind of extra optimism and confidence for the season should give Penn State fans any pause about the environment that they are going to go into I think that would be the case if Drew Aller was not going into a second year of starting third year with playing with the program Nicholas Singleton and KRON Allen same thing right this offense is at least the the Stars quote unquote are the veterans right they're the faces of this program now so there isn't that inexperience how do you handle the noise that happened last year on the road against Ohio State where some of the younger players are starting to come into their own like this is their program this their team now and the lights were a little brighter than expected in this case in in Morgantown certainly not and again combine that with en you know environment caliber of opponent experience of Penn State all of those things kind of bundle together right West Virginia isn't a Powerhouse Penn State is familiar with the system and they can beat that system right West Virginia is a Kryptonite for a lot of other teams okay Penn State's played played Michigan and Ohio State right those are better version of what West Virginia tries to do ground and pound be physical right it's not like those I I would say if this was like a USC or or a Washington going up against West Virginia week one a spread team that isn't really used to that kind of physicality different story but Penn State has played this way at least for the past two seasons where they are the ground in pound team and rely on ball control physicality they're essentially better than West Virginia at its own game when you look at what happened last year in this game Garrett green 16 of 27 162 yards no touchdowns no interception certainly the Mountaineers need him to be more productive than that if they are going to pull what the odds makers think would be a pretty sizable upset here without Manny Diaz who's off to be the head coach at Duke and without chop Robinson striking the fear of God rightfully so into opposing offensive coordinators how can this Penn State Defense replicate that performance in Morgantown I mean that's truly a nextmen up mentality here right Penn State isn't replacing their reloading okay so you go from Manny Diaz to Tom Allen who's actually a really good defensive coordinator he just had to handle a lot of the head coaching responsibilities up in Indiana but he said how many times to the Penn State media that he is glad to be back in a role where it's just defense defense defense that's his bread and butter and I'm glad it is you saw how it worked out with Manny Diaz who's say it can't be the same and if not better for Tom Allen right or at least to allow him to resurrect his coaching career if he wants to be a head coach again one day in you know who knows what time chop Robinson okay yes they lose him they lose a diesa Isaac as well both your two starting defensive ends Abol Carter moves down to one of those defensive end spots so it's not like Penn State is seeing a significant drop off you're just having a one you're trading one game recer for another Abdul Carter is going to have a similar maybe even a better presence than chop Robinson probably not right out of better than chop Robinson Abdul Carter is just a defensive freak oh I'm not I'm not I'm not here to cast dispersions I'm just saying chop Robinson is one of the most disruptive college football players we've seen in the last five years in the sport he's he is up there with quite frankly Michael Parsons Abdul Carter's in that same conversation I the only thing is the nuances right out of the right going from linebacker to defensive end but it's kind of all the same Abdul Carter was essentially being an additional pass rusher he's just got to fine-tune some of those defensive end mechanics but then there's deny Dennis Sutton as well Jamal Lions is coming on very strong I've heard good great feedback about him going into his second season with Penn State so it's not like there's a significant drop off when it comes to pass rushing presence they just have different names so if I told you right now in early lie that looking ahead to the future I have been sent back by My Future Self to warn you hey Penn State is going to lose this football game what does that say to you about what transpired or what will transpired will have transpired time travels fun I see what you're saying so hypothetically how does Penn State lose this game for West Virginia West Virginia would have to play a perfect game West Virginia would have to force I think a good number of turnovers for all of Penn State shortcomings a season ago they protected the football okay that's what West Virginia likes to do run the run the football bleed clock and try to sneak out of there with the victory it's not like West Virginia is going to put up 40 50 points this is essentially a first one to 30 wins and Penn State can get to 30 points they have almost the entire same offense from a season AG go and Penn State had no problem putting up 30 points against these kinds of caliber opponents West Virginia on the other hand it it's just not it's not the same I think environment helps and everything but at the end of the day Penn State's still just a more talented team they have better coaches okay oh well James Franklin versus Neil Brown how about Andy cotal Nikki and Tom Allen versus West Virginia's coordinators okay so Penn State is just much better on paper that you you are anticipating that Drew Aller has two maybe three interceptions a couple fumbles and I just don't see West Virginia's defense doing that Penn State was so good at protecting the football a season ago so how would West Virginia be able to do that when Drew all's back Nicholas Singleton KRON Allen you now bring in Julian Fleming into the fold Tyler Warren right all the veterans that were The Playmakers last year are back for Penn State so they're only going to get better at what they did a season ago I'm sure West Virginia fans will agree with every single word that you just said Zach SEO locked on Penn State everything you need on the NY Lions on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts Zack appreciate the time oh same to you Spencer thank you