Is this Penn State football team elite? / Initial takeaways from Penn State vs. West Virginia

and I'm want to answer it right out of the gate does this win by Penn State mean that they are in the upper echelon that they can be in the same conversation as the elite Premier team so that's we're talking Georgia we're talking Ohio State not quite not quite just yet but that doesn't mean that you can't be optimistic about the way that this team is built because they are built to be just that this is a college playoff team college football playoff team and they showed that today there was a clear distance between themselves and West Virginia who I tried to give some credit to I now I was very convinced that Penn State was going to win this game no matter what I never had a doubt in my mind that West Virginia uh could pull off an upset never thought that was going to happen but there was still a major difference and and Penn State I think took a step further and that was obvious based on the one and the biggest change that they made in the off season sure they went out and got three three new coordinators they ended up picking up some complimentary pieces in the transfer portal to help out the depth chart but Andy codal Nikki paid dividends already and and you could see that on display that is the biggest takeaway above all else is that Penn State is in a good position to be in that conversation with a Georgia and Ohio State be in the top again in the elite tier but you have to be at Ohio State that's how you do it but Penn State is set up nicely to be able to do that because granted this West Virginia team is not a college football playoff team anybody that put them in that just hopeless optimism I I think in this case I think West Virginia is a competitive team which is why I thought that they would cover the spread I I thought they would gar some garbage time in there but I thought they'd be a little more competitive at home but Penn State just took the wind out of their sales early on the expl most of plays were there I mean it was almost night and day compared to the 2023 season between Mike yuch who led this offense ball control which led to predictability right just no explosiveness and then it was too much explosiveness James Franklin went I thought this was an interesting comment James Franklin went into halftime and said that we're we're doing our drives are too short yeah sure we're scoring points but we need to be able to sustain a drive we need to be able to march the football down the field and give our defense a break well they certainly got a lengthy break with that weather delay but James Franklin was almost like we're we're too explosive guys we need to find a way to dial it back I think that would the offense is still brand new and when Penn State was very very sluggish to start the first quarter I'm like you know what anybody that was overreacting that's fine that's understandable but from from my point of view it's it's easy to understand this is a new complicated system okay this isn't this isn't a preschool offense for Penn State to to adapt the way they did to Andy cotel Nicki system that quickly again I feel like that was a positive because 34 points and and I thought they would get to the 30s I thought they would get to the 30s and they did but they let off the gas if Penn State really needed to they probably could have scored another touchdown or two to really really widen the margin of Victory there so the biggest takeaway from this game is that Andy Co Nikki's offensive system is working and it's only going to get better if you think this was the best version of it you know hey 34 points I can live with that no there's still room for improvement and they're going to get better this was just this was a preview of what's to of what's on the way in a sense Drew Aller had an amazing game and that's right a result that's a result of having a coach that gives you the opportunity to get Rhythm that allows you to maximize your overall skill set and doesn't box you in Drew Aller was boxed in a season Ago by Mike yuch and just by the offense in general it was just boxon whoever you know wide receivers some offensive line blocking and then scheme but Andy Cal Nikki has done an excellent job to not only scheme those explosive plays open but it allows Drew Aller to you could just see a totally different Drew Aller on display and I mean that from the the actual X's and O's of it in terms of him completing his throws in terms of him taking down risky passes down the field and he was still no interceptions and then other than that that botch snap again West Virginia clapping West Virginia players Joel clatt doesn't think so the fox broadcast didn't think so but West Virginia defensive players were clapping which forced you know confused Dawkins and had him snap the football to Aller but this offense is still keeping the game clean I seriously Drew Aller is so good at protecting the football but he's also great at other things the throw you know power arm strength the accuracy and something that was talked about on this show frequently and honestly maybe I didn't even give it enough Justice and I thought I I thought I was beating a dead horse at that point when talking about Drew Aller and that dual threat ability the dude had 44 yards West Virginia was chasing him around and they could not catch him that is a six foot five quarterback that ended up dropping some weight he was 242 last season ended up moving down to 235 and seven pounds doesn't seem like a lot but Drew Aller is and and James Frank I kept saying hey James Frank that Drew Aller was not a Lamar Jackson you don't need to make that comparison but James Franklin said it in the most game presser that we call him Lamar Aller at as a joke but they truly do believe that he can be a dual threat quarterback and utilized and and West Virginia just they didn't they couldn't they couldn't bring him down I don't know how you bring down that that you don't bring down this quarterback that you believe is that everybody out there believes is a statue and they had trouble getting to him so this was so from the ability making the throws completing the passes protecting the football that's all well and great but the the defining moment came in the fourth quarter folks when Penn State's pouring it on West Virginia is just completely out of it they wanted to be done students left I I get it the weather delay had an impact and everybody was kind of crammed to take shelter I totally understand that but that was a completely different second half and Penn States you know kind of you know pedal to the medal let's you know put a put a stamp on this Victory here and Drew Aller Josiah Trotter somebody that was recruited by Penn State the son of a former NFL linebacker and Jeremiah trod he's a good football player football is in his blood and Drew Allard a stiff arm right to the face of Trotter put him in the turf and that was kind of the and then gets up and lets Trotter know like I gotta let him know that you know the stiff arm was nasty that drewal there there was a timidness la timidness last year hesitation second guessing you can see it you know just the eyeball test I don't you you're never going to know the exact mindset of any sort of player let alone all right what they're actually thinking and how they're processing the game unless they open up about it but you can just tell like there's you know just a lot of second guessing here Drew Aller looked confident assured of himself there was a Swagger to him in this game and he let West Virginia know a lot there was a lot of back and forth there was a lot of interesting discourse between pen State and West Virginia fans online because hey you can have that discourse in the age of the internet and social media but the bottom line is I think Drew Aller saw a lot of those conversations and let West Virginia know that he he's as good as advertised he's as good as a he's better than ever other the way other people advertise him Gus Johnson and Joel clatt said that they REM that Drew all reminds them of Tom Brady that's the highest praise when you have seven Super Bowl rings I I don't know if I'll go I don't know if I'll go that far just yet he has elements of Tom Brady's game elements of great quarterback backs right the arm strength the accuracy the decision- making and he's got that dual threat capability the the two the two biggest things from this game were that Penn State's offense really held the team back a season ago and now it's kind of all equal the offense can complement the defense the defense can complement the offense and that Drew Aller is that five-star quarterback that a lot of Penn State fans and a lot of other Penn State shows including this one knew that he could be he was just he he was just held back in a lot of ways