Penn State-West Virginia: Can Drew Allar repeat is 2023 masterpiece? Can Nittany Lions handle crowd?

hello everybody it is Thursday in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania my name is Adam bner assistant sports editor for multimedia at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette join for our weekly Penn State football podcast by Joel hos of the Post Gazette and the daily Collegian football editor uh excited Joel it is finally Football week uh Penn State faces West Virginia at High Noon down at Mountain near field at milon pusar stadium in morgant town it's going to be a Rowdy scene um are you excited for for your first trip down there for for a game yeah it's going to be awesome I'm looking forward to the atmosphere there and everything like that obviously it's a noon game so maybe not you know as rockus as it might have been for a night game but still um sounds like it's a sellout um I don't think there are any any tickets really available um we heard from James Franklin at media actually um that they were having difficulty with with getting tickets for like alumni and things like that I believe um just because of how many people already attending the game so it should be a great atmosphere um and yeah just looking forward to making making the trip down there for the first time and we're going to talk about that atmosphere we're going to talk about the matchup itself some of the key players um some of the things we saw last year how will those matchups play out this year also going to get into Pat Craft's extension a little bit um as athletic director I think there's some interesting topics to get to there before we wrap up before we get into that conversation just want to thank our sponsor for this episode of the podcast voodo Brewing Company in State College enjoy world renowned craft beer delicious cocktails and our Almost Famous Lobster roles of voodoo Brewing Company State College p located right off College Avenue and Route 322 at 21 Elwood Street State College uh vbc state college has something exciting going on every day the week join us this fall on Mondays for weekly free play cornhole tournaments or test your knowledge with Pub trivia every Tuesday at 6 Wednesday is our game night featuring board games card games and adult games every Thursday your boy dots host Bingo but this is not your nana Bingo Saturday we have uh your NY lions in college football all day we finish off Sundays with our brunch paired with Steelers Eagles and Red Zone coverage can't wait to see you all at the vood breuing company State College Pub um okay Joel let's get into this environment um how do you think it factors in here I know James Franklin spent a decent chunk of time talking about how the entire state of West Virginia can rally around the Mountaineers that they don't want to leave any play sheets around at the hotels um L they end up in the hands of Neil Brown and that coaching staff um and we just know that it's it's one of the roudier scenes in college football we also know Penn State has gone into some tough roaded environments early in the season in recent years um thinking of Purdue in that season opener two years ago maybe Purdue if you play them in November is not a tough road trip but that was a packed Stadium rosade stadium that night uh those Purdue fans were geeked for that that night game season opener so that was a tough environment then you go into Auburn later a couple weeks later um end up beating them badly but that was a tough environment even going further back I think you had that night game against pit in 2018 at aisher stadium um and Pen State's shown an ability to to be ready for these moments early in seasons do you expect anything different um heading down to Morgantown yeah it's interesting um I mean you look at you look at how the game played out last year with penate winning by 23 points and then you look at the spread this year um and I think it opened around 10 points and it's actually been bent down to around eight points now um so it seems like Vegas at least is expecting a much closer game this year and I think a lot of that does have to do with the environment that you're that's you know we're going to experience in Morgantown um so I think it'll be interesting to see and obviously the teams I've been talking about that they're they're preparing for um you know pretty loud environment Franklin has talked about it a lot of the players have mentioned you know specific things that they're kind of doing um as they prepare for that um so yeah no I do expect it to be to be a really a really loud really aggressive um environment there in Morgantown I think their fans are very excited for this matchup um and you kind of look back through West Virginia history it's been it's been a long time since they've had a game this big a team this big you know a top 10 opponent coming in so they're definitely excited for the game um if you interact with with any of the West Virginia fans on social media on Twitter which I wouldn't recommend doing but um if you have done that you've you've certainly heard the the jokes the West Virginia by two touchdowns the the Drew Allen um things like that um I don't know how much you're familiar with that but even just yesterday I went to Penn State practice and and was just posting you know some basic Clips some passes from Drew all things like that I had West Virginia fans coming at me in the comments talking about how you know Penn State was going to start 0 And1 and things like that and I'm just trying to get some videos out from practice and things like that um so it's interesting how how passionate how how amped up they are for this matchup I think they'll be there I think they'll they'll show up they'll be ready U they'll be loud so definitely something to factor in um but like you mentioned Penn State's no stranger to to starting on the road to starting in hostile environments Franklin talked about that a little bit at media after practice uh he said he can he can thank the Big 10 for preparing Penn State for this matchup um constantly scheduling them with with Road openers um and confidence play so I do think pen state has enough experience in situations like this that they should be ready um again Drew all's first career appearance uh came against Purdue and Sean Clifford uh went down with a little bit of an injury there to to open the third quarter so Aller has experience um with with things like that um playing in big environments the Horseshoe um everything like that so I do think that the team should be pretty prepared for it just given kind of its history and there are a lot of Veteran leaders on this unit who have experienced environments like that before but again you don't want to dismiss it because we've seen what how much an environment can impact a game whether it's you know the Penn State moom against Michigan whether it was Iowa against Penn State in 2021 we know how much these college football environments can really can really play a factor so obviously you can't you know take anything for granted and you really have to be aware of of how much of an impact the the uh you know the fans can have on this game yeah we've seen Pat magae feeding the fire as well um and I think the fact that the Texas and Oklahoma are out of the Big 12 has given all of those programs and an idea that they can um if they've got a decent team that they're going to go in with a chance to win win the conference so I think there's you know oxygen for West Virginia this year specifically Beyond just you know Penn State's coming to town I think there are high expectations for this team overall and not just to maybe pull one a one time upset and then turn in another eight and Four Season you know I I think people wanted to see West Virginia make a run in this big 12 so I think that's a circumstance that that maybe wasn't there last year um Joel I want to talk about Drew Aller because you know as we went through went through last season that you know first game against West Virginia kind of ended up being his Masterpiece for the year I think you know maybe you could put the Michigan State game in in that same boat but I think the whole team played well in in that game I think the West Virginia game was really Drew Aller at the center of the action in a way that we didn't see for the whole rest of the campaign um how much do we need to see him handle this environment to believe that this is a real playoff Contender um and how much of that performance from last season do you think he can replicate on the road yeah um I mean in terms of the playoff situation obviously Penn State you know I think 10- two gets you in nine and three you're kind of on the bubble and at that point it's really out of your hands and you're kind of depending on you know what other teams do what you you know the resumes look like and what the committee kind of thinks um so definitely a big game in terms of that and um again we've seen in the past do has played in in some Road environments um started you know at Ohio State last year but they obviously lost that game and he was you know pretty pretty abysmal uh showing from Allard their under 50% completion and then we all know what happened with you know the postgame interview kind of breaking down um a little bit during during media um and everything like that we have heard a lot um this offseason about how all's taking a step for as a leader become more of a vocal leader in that room and then was recently named a team captain uh which is a status he didn't have last year so I do think all's kind of Taken strides more on the mental side than the physical side um I would say just to kind of get prepared um which I think will will help him in this matchup um and he might find a little bit more success because uh on the road last year there were times where he struggled um even against lesser teams um I think of a game like like Northwestern or or Illinois where he wasn't particularly great um and so you know again going to West Virginia we talked about the environment that he's going to have there it's going to be a challenge for sure and it's kind of a going to be a pro it moment for Aller um we've heard all these things all offseason about him you know stepping up taking taking on that leadership role within the offense can he actually go out and show that and lead the offense against West Virginia can he have the same success that he had against them last year you know in the friendly confines of of Beaver Stadium um and it'll be interesting to see I'm not sure um I also think part of it is that West Virginia has improved over the offseason and even throughout last season uh so I think it'll be kind of a different West Virginia Squad than what Penn State saw last year so I do think it would be hard for for Aller to replicate the success he had last year even if he has taken steps forward just because I think the West Virginia Defense is also going to be a lot tougher than what we saw last season 21 out of 29 325 yards three touchdowns averaged 11.2 yards per attempt uh last season against the Mountaineers so yeah it's going to be difficult to reach I don't think you have to do that to beat West Virginia um I I just think you know you once you've proven you can do it once people are going to be um you know wanting to see that from him because you're GNA have tough road trips this year I think you know probably tougher than any average road trip that that he's had to deal with you're gonna have to go to Madison which you know even if if Wisconsin's not phenomenal we've seen Penn State have to um you know fight hard up there you're going to go into the LA Coliseum um I'll actually be at that game um and was tough to get tickets for that it's going to be a big environment that's 90,000 people under the bright lights of Hollywood um so you know there's going to be a lot of eyes on can you handle this Drew all um especially in the context of that Ohio State game a year ago let's flip sides let's talk about uh Garrett green um he was a guy that didn't have a great game in Happy Valley last year 16 of 27 162 yards averaged six yards in attempt no touchdowns also no picks um but I think Neil Brown was on the Pat McAfee show this week week or maybe a couple weeks ago saying he doesn't understand how Garrett green isn't on top 100 college football player lists um I I think there's a lot more hype around him than there was a year ago what kind of challenge do you expect him to present for this Penn State Defense and is he G to be one of the better guys they potentially see all year and and making making him a good test for them right yeah I mean like you mentioned he wasn't particularly impressive last season when the two teams faced off but um again I think he's improved as well as the overall team team from last year I think he'll look a lot different this year um a bit more of a threat and he's definitely a threat with his legs I think his biggest strength is is in the Run game he had about 750 yards last year uh on the ground so again as a passer probably you know pretty average but on the ground a big threat um again he was right up there with the running backs you look at West Virginia's leading runner they had they had a couple of running backs um who were around 800 yards and then you had Garr green at like 750 so he was right up there with them so I think they're going to rely more heavily on the rushing attack it'll be interesting to see how Penn State handles that because West Virginia's offensive line is also a strength of a team um they lose their their Center Zack Frasier um who was one of the key pieces of the team last year arguably arguably the best player on their team last year but they still have some Talent on that offensive line it should be one of the strengths of the team they've got some good running backs and then you add Garr Green's rushing ability it'll really come down to how well Penn State's able to bottle up that run um and I think with the pieces that Penn State returns in this front seven uh you get your defensive tackles back you've got Abdul Carter coming down to defensive end and then we've got Deni Denis a former five star um also at defensive end and then you know linebackers again they're they're switching in Tom Allen's uh defense to a 425 which you know one one fewer linebacker on the field but you're still gonna have you know Kobe king um Tony Rojas so some Talent there as well so I guess I should have I should have caught it a front six but regardless I think the key to the game for Penn State will be trying to contain that run especially Garr green his ability to scan or scramble which you know should make things tough for pen defense yeah that was I think you actually answered what was going to be my next question of you know how big of a challenge is this running game going to be um because it it was it was a challenge last year I I think they only averaged 3.7 yards per carry in the end but I think part of that had to do with the game script and and the negative way that it went for West Virginia because they still piled up 146 yards 81 from CJ Donaldson 71 from Garrick green um 40 car on on the evening so um not terribly efficient in in the bottom line but I think we remember in those first couple drives Joel that that they were able to move the ball and and then challenge this Penn State Defense a little bit so I think that's going to really determine the whether West Virginia is going to be in this game or not if they can run the ball I think it's going to be a game in the fourth quarter um you know whether Penn State's ahead by a touchdown or two um but you know if they can run the ball I think it's it's going to be a game if they can't I think pen State's going to be able to um get out and and and cover pretty easily um let's let's talk about this what do you need to see from Penn State's running backs in this game we've we've talked about how you know they're expected to be better than they were a year ago uh because of the change in the offense um I know there's been um some changes in the physique this off season um so so what do you need to see from them against a real Varsity opponent to believe that things are going to be different than they were for most of 2023 yeah I think if you're a Penn State fan what you really want to see is just that explosiveness uh come back from from what we were able to see two seasons ago um that was obviously lacking last year I mean Singleton's longest run of of the 2023 season was only 20 yards um which is kind of insane considering what he was able to do the year prior with all those explosive plays that was kind of you know what he was known for was was those home runs um and so I think if you're Penn State you definitely want to see that explosiveness come back you definitely want to see you know you're hoping that under coton Nikki's new scheme they're able to kind of UN that get some more big plays um and I think the key for Penn State again on the ground you you don't want to be having one two three yard runs or even negative plays you don't want to be getting kind of behind the sticks um because then that allows West Virginia to stay in the game and West Virginia obviously like we what like we just touched on is kind of a heavy running team um and so if both teams are kind of keeping it on the ground and if Penn State's not able to pull away you know it's going to be very limited possessions uh probably a very low scoring Affair so if you're Penn State you're hoping you know one or two explosiv plays early kind of like what we saw last year with the Keandre Lambert Smith 70 yard touchdown on the first drive um if you're Penn State that's kind of the ideal scenario where you know you can hit those explosive plays you can get on the board early because again West Virginia uh more of a running team uh not really any any proven Commodities in the receiver room so uh not necessarily built to come back from a deficit so I think if Penn State can can kind of jump out to that early lead you know get some explosive plays um then they should be in a good position to kind of pull away as the game continues James Franklin mentioned the receivers specifically again this week as the most improved group since the spring um scale of 1 to 10 how much are you buying what he's been selling on them since Camp started because I think we've we've had this conversation a couple of times of well what are they what are they supposed to say that the receivers are worse the receivers aren't very good uh and that's all that's all true but how much of it do you think is coach speaking how much of it do you think is legit yeah um that's a good question I think that is kind of one of the big the big questions of the offseason and um just going back to that specific question uh it was almost a copout answer because Franklin was asked which unit of the offense he felt like is has taken the biggest strides this off season and then he he mentioned wide receiver but he also mentioned offensive line he also mentioned quarterback and then he said he would have mentioned tight Ender running back but he felt like they were already so good last year that that you know they're going to maintain that but not necessarily take a step forward so at the end of the day it it was kind of a cop out answer there but yeah he he did he did mention the receivers um first and so um and again we that's not the first time obviously he's mentioned them he also started yesterday's press conference it was interesting he came up yesterday and he joked about getting getting kind of old and how his memories fading and he said you know I forgot to mention Omari Evans uh during the last media when you guys asked me about the wide receivers so he wanted to specifically throw Omari Evans out there there he's done that a few times with the wide receivers uh kind of specifically mentioning guys and and you know you try you try to ask him about one player he brings up the entire room basically just goes down the line of how they've all been improving how they've all looked better so it is really difficult at times to kind of you know which players are actually improving or you know what I mean because he'll kind of say the same thing about everyone um but it's it's I do tend to believe that the passing attack will be better um just because it you know frankly can't get much worse um um uh again you lose kre Lambert Smith the teams leading receiver he had a big game against West Virginia last year which you know obviously if you're Penn State you probably would have wanted to keep him there just because he's a great talented player but we also saw um a lot of the times he was running the wrong routes things like that um and they even you know kind of benched him during the peach bow um after like the first few drives we didn't see him at all um so it was kind of a weird situation there um but you bring in Julian Fleming we've heard good things about him should be a good replacement there potentially wide receiver one although Harrison Wallace uh also in that conversation um and again Wallace had a good game against West Virginia last year as well I think seven catches for 70 yards which was which were both career highs for him um and then he just struggled with injuries throughout the year but I think Penn State has enough guys in that room and I think one of the bigger issues for Penn State's receivers whether it's Fleming whether it's Wallace whether it's Omari Evans I think one of the biggest issues for the receivers has been just staying healthy and staying on the field um well the cure to that is you just had a whole off season and it's week on so nobody's injured yet you know maybe that changes throughout the season but as of now Penn State's wide receiver room is kind of at full strength um which I think you know just based on that that alone you know having Harrison Wallace healthy having Fleming who said he's he feels he's the healthiest he's ever been um he said I think he had two surgeries just last season alone at Ohio State and so um he was kind of dealing with some some issues there but I think you have those two guys fully healthy um heading into the season and again some other guys um Amari Evans Liam Clifford sers who could potentially pick it up um so just because of that I think yeah Penn State's wide receiver room might be in the best situation it'll be all season this year um just for this opening game so I do expect it to pick up and if there is kind of you know a good team to do it against West Virginia West Virginia secondary uh West Virginia's pass defense wasn't great last year uh should still be a weakness of the team I know they brought in a few guys um I think through the transfer portal but not you know any huge names I don't I don't know if they'll take a huge step forward and I think if you talk to West Virginia fans they'll tell you that uh you know the secondary is kind of the weakness of the team right now so I think it's it's kind of good for for Penn State to get that opportunity to exploit that weakness and kind of build some confidence he voluntarily there's I've noticed a tone shift with him when he's talking about the non-conference schedules he seems very jolly about this game um in a way that he's typically not I mean I remember sitting in Ireland listening to him belly ache about having to play UCF in his first game that was a Bill O'Brien thing for him he's obviously made some memorable quotes belly aching about you know playing pit through the years because that that was another gift that I think you know was late Paterno era and then Bill O'Brien added those second couple games in um 178 um and and I think he's increasingly shown a little bit of a little bit more love for the idea of playing games like this against West Virginia he voluntarily brought up the benefits of playing pit um he mentioned pit specifically in a way that he was not prompted to ask which is r usually a Penn State coach will not say the word pit unless they are prompted to and and kind of cornered on it um and he said these are the benefits of playing these teams specifically do you think he is softening at all on the idea of um you know scheduling some of these These Old Eastern rivalries from Penn State's independent days um do you see any more Daylight for a pit to end up back on the schedule maybe sooner than later or do you think he still looks at the the 12 team playoff format and and maybe says you know we got to have an easy schedule here um we don't need these big rivalry games is this something you think they're going to move Beyond um you know maybe once this West Virginia game is over yeah um well I think you touched on something interesting with the 12 team playoff uh but I do agree to I do agree to your point because I remember after the the second Auburn game where Penn State went to Jordan hair Stadium beat the beat the Tigers 4112 or whatever it was um and after they game he was asked by the media you know how much he enjoyed kind of scheduling a Big Marky non-conference opponent you know a team from the secc everything like that or if he was kind of you know encouraged to do it in the future based on how it went and he still said he didn't like it um he said he he you know wish that they hadn't scheduled that home and home against Auburn um which was kind of interesting considering you know Penn State swept went to and0 um in those games but Franklin was kind of against it said the team kind of had to do whatever it whatever it needed to do to to reach the season undefeated or with as few losses as possible um but going back to what you said about the playoff I think it's interesting because now teams can go 11- one 10-2 potentially even nine and three uh you know depending on the situation and get into the playoffs so I think honestly Franklin has become a little bit more lenient um because he knows that you know you can schedule a big team out of conference a good test for your for your team and at the end of the day um you know even if you lose that game you still have a good shot of of making the playf if you can take care of business the rest of the year so it kind of gives you a little bit more leeway there um but yeah that is interesting to see Franklin's tone kind of switch on that um I do think it's probably probably has something to do with the playoffs but but yeah definitely interesting yeah yeah and it's just a question we have to ask on a podcast produced by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette right um got to talk about pit and Penn State when we can um the other big headline of the week Joel was the uh the patcraft extension um eight years a lot of money um did you see the length as warranted um given everything they're trying to do with the stadium right now this is not going to be like an overnight thing you want a steady hand overseeing the whole project and not eight different people with eight different ideas of how to get it done um or or do you look at the competitiveness of this athletic department as a whole compared to where it was you know when I was in school when you had multiple programs competing seriously for national championships and say you know it's it's questionable whether he should have gotten eight full years to deal with that um just because I think wrestling's the only really super viable program right here on a national championship level you look at you know the the volleyball program has unquestionably taken a step back women's volleyball um the soccer teams were really good when I was in school about a decade ago um I know they're still pretty solid and solid threats but they haven't kind of gotten through to that college cup level since um you know football is is obviously its own thing and and and basketball is still searching for some answers after that um the loss of Micah Shrewsberry um what's your read on on whether this was the right move or not yeah um I mean I think of your Penn State obviously uh what they wanted to do was kind of lock up craft like you mentioned longterm just part of it obviously the Beaver Stadium Renovations which aren't scheduled to be completed until uh 2027 so obviously you don't want to be switching athletic directors who are suddenly you know changing their mind on that halfway through the construction or something like that um so part of it just kind of securing that and again Franklin's been at Penn State for a long time now entering his 11th season um so obviously there's that continuity there and he kind of values you know staying at the same place uh for a long time and kind of building something um over time um I do think it was a good move for Penn State um you mentioned kind of some of the other athletic programs um how they've been doing um in terms of success I think some of the bigger programs um men's men's basketball and baseball uh things like that have kind of you know recently hired new coaches um new head coaches under patcraft and taken some promising steps um which I think is interesting because I think patcraft um you know I think I think in terms of football I'm not sure how much has necessarily changed her but I do think some of the some of the other sports are kind of getting a little bit more love or a little bit more more attention um so I mean you know Rob Cooper was the head coach of pen baseball for whatever 10 11 12 years I think they had one or two winning records in that time right and half the schedule comes against you know Bucknell or or Youngstown State or whatever and and they're losing games like that um and and things like that so it's certainly an underperforming program I would say and under the the previous regime with with Sandy Barber was kind of you know they were just allowing that to happen they were you know okay they were content with it I think Pat craft comes in and the expectation is you know he wants every team to be competitive uh at the highest level um Franklin has gone out of his way to compliment craft a lot of times um I think he's gone three consecutive Medias where he's talked about the new football training table um which he said he never had before this year it's a new thing that he he's always wanted to get done and was finally able to get it done under Craft um again the the Beaver Stadium renovation is happening now we know the Lash building recently um had some had some upgrades um so just things like that I think the facilities um under Pat craf is willing to spend that money again we're not sure how that will necessarily Translate to success on the field um you would think you know intuitively that it would help out but I mean Franklin certainly seems to like craft and you could argue Franklin's kind of the most powerful most influential person at Penn State you know more than neie bipy more than anyone like that um so when Franklin likes someone and he seems to really like patcraft I think that's always you know a good sign for patcraft that's kind of where you want to be you want to have the full support of Franklin um and I think that certainly plays a role the fact that you know Franklin seems to really like him um and Franklin's obviously locked up for for a while now um forget exactly how long his his contract was I think around eight years as well um from a couple years ago so you know I think he wants craft to be here as long as he's here um because I think he really likes what what craft has done for the for the football team yeah and I think that's that's part of the conversation is that this is a a big transition era in in college sports and it is packraft the right guy for that given that things change on a dime and and I think my I'll narrow the question this this way and get you out of here on this Joel is um listen Penn State was in bad shape in nil about you know a year and a half ago after the Micah Shrewsberry departure for Notre Dame I think they've taken a lot of good steps in the past year um but as we've talked about on this podcast already this year they're still behind the Ohio States of the world and and some of these other um high dollar value programs do you think patcraft is equipped to um squeeze the most out of out of P State and and maybe CO's a cultural because I think that's his biggest challenge right is the cultural issue of we're not going to pay to play um and and the Joe patno Grand experiment all of that um that is not the world that we live in anymore um it's going to be about establishing this as a financially viable competitor on the nil level I think we we say the word nil is shorthand for how how like paying the players but as we know with the house settlement there's you know they're going to be able to pay players directly to Nal is going to be part of it but it's no longer going to be all of of enticing um talented players to come to Happy Valley so um do you look at patcraft and say this is a guy who took his lumps early on with the Shrewsberry situation but understands the importance of of changing the culture at Penn State and understanding that if you're going to maintain your status as a blue blood it's going to require Penn State to do things it hasn't traditionally been comfortable doing yeah for sure I mean I think Pat Craft's an Innovative guy I think he's willing to kind of adapt his strategy to keep up with with The Changing Times you know obviously nil becoming a much bigger Factor now and I think there's no reason why Penn State you know can't be successful in the nil era um obviously a large majority of the fan base um or you know a large alumni base I should say of of whatever it is uh 700,000 I think living alumni largest in the world um and then you look at you know CEOs and things like that because if we're being honest here most of the nil money is not coming from you know the average person in in York PA or wherever it's coming from you know these big businesses these big CEO types and I I recently saw somewhere that Penn State I think LinkedIn ranked Penn State number two uh of any college in the country for for graduating CEOs and I think number one was like Harvard and number three was like Yale so you have these Ivy League schools and then there's just pen State up there number two um which I thought was really interesting so and we've seen even with these Beaver Stadium Renovations the amount of money that P state has pouring in with these um Founders gifts that they're calling it of you know 10 million 25 million another 10 million um dollars coming in it's every week they're getting another massive donation to to these uh Renovations so the money is certainly there I think the biggest issue has just been kind of getting the fans informed about how to donate uh you know where to go to donate kind of what the money is going to um and so I think that's been a little bit lacking and I think Penn State got off to a really bad start um because there were about three or four different collectives and then they've kind of merged down into Happy valy Happy Valley United being the main one and I think they've taken strides I think there's some some key um you know figures that have kind of helped that I know LaVar Arrington is is doing some work in the nil space to kind of help out Penn State there so I think it's definitely a work in progress I don't think it's where Penn State wants it to be I don't think it's where Penn State expected it to be you know when nil first became a thing but I think it is headed in the right direction and I think craft is definitely working hard on that front because I think he does understand you know that it's it's going to take a really good nil um to be able to be competitive um in these major sports yeah I like to tell people when when I talk about nil that um the moment I knew they were taking things seriously is when I saw not just beer in the stadium but uh they had those State light beers that were uh benefiting Penn State nil in Beaver Stadium last year um things like that are like Innovative steps that I I think you can take with a massive fan base and listen I I I don't know if if you remember Joel uh back in 2015 when they made the Joe patno beer it was kind of a protest of of what had happened with the Scandal uh but people went to the ends of the Earth to buy the joea beer for like the one run they did um I think it was Pittsburgh Brewing or some someone out this way that that made it um but hey get those State lights out to you know beer distributors I asked I I have a buddy who runs a beer distributor I said have have you seen this at your uh um your wholesalers or anything and no they had not so like things like that can you get can you get things like that at a Grassroots level distributed across the state um so that you know a Penn State fan can say well I don't have you know a hundred bucks to light on fire and just hand to James Franklin but if you give me a 12 pack of decent beer you know and and you put a Penn State nil label on it am I more inclined to buy that than I am like a Miller Light or a Bud Light or all the you know the the mainline beers I think a lot of fans would would be invest in that way um so that's going to be the question can patcraft those next steps on a Grassroots level to boost not just nil I think the whole donor base to do the things that it's going to need to do in this new college football future but Joel I think we're overtime already so thank you for stopping by um enjoy the trip to Morgantown be safe um and I'm looking forward to to hearing your report uh Joel will be uh doing a a post game video on Saturday so if you're Penn State fan make sure you're subscribed to the channel obviously we do a lot of Steelers here we do some pit um but we're going to have plenty of pen State content we're have Penn State locker room content this season coming to you from Joel so there going be three four five Penn State videos a week on on a Steelers dominated Channel I think that's pretty good so hit that subscribe button help us out with a like uh it really helps us out in the YouTube algorithm for for things like Penn State that maybe are not you know our main emphasis on this channel but that we really want to get in front of as many people as possible so those likes always help pop that button um and Joel thank you so much no problem [Music] thank you for checking out this content from Post Gazette sports if you watch this video on YouTube please like the video and subscribe to our channel for all of the sports coverage the Post Gazette has to offer visit postgazette.com [Music]