Why West Virginia Will Be BETTER Against Penn State | Pro Football Focus

this video is brought to you by bet us Sportsbook and casino not many people are giving West Virginia a chance to beat Penn State on August 31st to open the 2024 college football season heck I didn't even pick West Virginia to win the game but I do think they have a legit chance to do so and in this video which is powered in part by bet us Sportsbook and casino I'm going to show you with numbers why West Virginia has a legitimate shot to win the game stay tuned we'll talk about it right after this word from my other channel sponsor since 1931 the attorneys at cats caner Stone Street and Buckner have been the voice for victims who have suffered Serious injury or death they have a fierce passion for truth and Justice and a sincere compassion for those who have been wronged by others whether you have been in a car accident or fighting with an insurance company or you or a loved one has suffered Serious injury or death due to medical negligence we will ensure your voice is heard loud and clear cats caner Stone Street and Buckner will ensure there is Justice for All West Virginia because we are your lawyer your voice visit us at your laery yourvoice decom what is up come on in make yourself comfortable Bell yourself up to the bar let me pour you out this shot of topshelf college football content on tapa Koza Corner today we are talking about West Virginia and why I think they have improved enough to not only be more competitive against Penn State but actually beat Penn State I've heard a lot of podcasters out there a lot of YouTube channels talk about how West Virginia doesn't have a chance I've listened to so many I don't I can't keep track of who saying what at this point but I did hear one show in particular again don't remember who I heard the words has West Virginia really improved that much how do we know well at the end of the day we really don't right until they play the game but on paper when you look at the talent level of the team West Virginia has has improved and I'm going to show you proof of that I'm going to pull up numbers from Pro Football Focus we're going to look at the 2023 roster or at least part of it players that were on West Virginia's roster last year that are not this year and players who were replacing them and we're going to compare their PFF grades it's that simple at least it will be to you cuz I did all the work for you now let's let take a look at the numbers numers now I apologize I'm not able to remove the ads from the screen so I will scroll so you can see it but as you see I've divided this up it's collar coded and it's broken broken down by position the Green Collar were players who were a backups they were on the West Virginia team a year ago but they did not start the game against pen State players in blue are players who transferred into West Virginia this year and were not on the roster last year gold means a player was on the West Virginia team against pen State a year ago and was actually a starter in that game Sam and CER are players who started against pen state but have graduated and then the gray collar are players who played against Penn State played snaps but weren't starters so we're going to take a look at all those right we're going to see what did West Virginia lose lose what did they gain let's look at first at the wide receiver spot Cortez Braham and Devin Carter were two of your starters at that spot Devin Carter has graduated Cortez Braham left the team about midseason or about well about a fourth of the way through but he was a starter in game one against Penn State his PFF grade in the games he played for West Virginia 50.3 not good not good at all now he was a a good blocker but when you look at his overall PFF grade at 50.3 means he had evidently did not do well as far as catching running routes those types of things he transferred out guess where he ended up Nevada a group of five te Devin Carter graduated he actually had a pretty good PFF grade A year ago at 71.2 now this PFF grad is for the entire season or the games they played in not just the pen State game so keep that in mind dein Carter was a good solid receiver for West Viria year ago graded out 71.2 that's tough to replace but I've got confidence that it will be done because the receivers that were also on the team a year ago or at least a lot of them who played snaps were freshman tayin Ray Rodney Gallagher Hudson clment they have all they should have all improved from year one to year two West Virginia also had EJ Horton and Jeremiah Aaron on the roster at the receiver spot who played at least I think they played snaps in that game their PFF grade 65.5 and 48.1 respectively again they transferred to group of five schools FAU and North Texas Jayden Bray transfer from Oklahoma State one of the replacements for these guys he had a 66.1 PFF grade playing for Oklahoma State a year ago so for the most part with the exception of Deon Carter that's an improvement and I actually think jadden Bray has a much higher ceiling than what Deon Carter had at West Virginia now Justin Robinson's also transferring in from Mississippi State I was not able to find his PFF grades anywhere because I'm not I'm not a subscriber to PFF I was able to find these in various articles which by the way I'll link to my sources or I'll list my sources in the description box but I wasn't able to find Robinson's PFF grade but he's tall he's he has length he's athletic so it should be an improvement there over you know Braham Corton and Aaron right all right let's go down to the defensive line one of the players that left West Virginia that some fans thought was a loss was Mike lockart the starting nose tackle for West Virginia year ago who did start against Penn State his overall PFF grade for the entire season 56.7 so not very good transferred out went to SMU who yes is now a power for school they're now in the ACC but they weren't a year ago he's not listed as a starter for SMU He's listed as a second teamer so was that really that big of a loss likely starting over him will be for TMA MBA who was on the team a year ago Penn State fans you recognize the name I know he was a third Stringer there but he was only a freshman there too if I'm not mistaken he's he's came over to West Virginia to play in a three down front which I think is a better fit for him his overall PFF grade was 76.4 last year in that two deep for West Virginia but he had the highest run blocking grade on the entire defensive line at 79.7 so he's good at stopping the run which is going to be key in this game he's likely going to be the starter over Mike lockart I think that's an improvement other two defensive lineman that we can compare Tomy wad duray played some snaps at defensive tackle from Mountaineers a year ago had a 61.5 PFF grade he transferred out where he's now going to be a benchwarmer at FSU but he'll make more p n money more than likely being replaced by TJ Jackson transfer from Troy staff very high on him his PFF grade A year ago at Troy 89.7 folks that is that is phenomenal I think it may be the highest or at least one of the highest in the Big 12 coming into the season now I know what a lot of you are thinking but CZ he did that at a group of five school if if I understand PFF right and how they do their grading they do not look at the level of competition they're playing they strictly look at how they play the position their technique do they do things the right way are they in the right spots that kind of thing I don't think they look at now somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I'm and I may need to go back and look at the video where I had the person from PFF on here Max Chadwick I think is his name and he explained all that but I'm pretty sure he said they don't look at level of competition so that shouldn't matter here TJ Jackson very high as reg great now let's go down to the safety spot this was a position that was inconsistent you could say a year ago Hershey McLaren was a starting safety against Penn State a year ago started most of the Season had a 74.6 grade for the season not not terrible not not too bad at all he's transferred he's now at Houston where he's listed as either the starting nickel or a second team safety again you consider he wasn't able to earn a starting spot at Houston which is rebuilding the roster makes me wonder how big a loss that really is but again you look at his PFF grade he did perform fairly well his replacement Jem Joseph transfer from Northwestern who had a great season at Northwestern with an 80.7 grade to me we improved at that spot you got Lance Dixon who was a spear linebacker at West Virginia played spear most of the season last year I'm I'm including that as a safety here he ended up getting kicked off the team part of the way through the season transferred out guess where he's at now a group of five School Toledo guess what what according to the preseason depth chart not even a starter at Toledo his PFF grade was only 59.9 now in his defense his tackling grade A year ago 86.5 highest on the team but when you look at that 59.9 overall grade what's that tell you he's really struggling in pass coverage which explains a lot kesan cob was also a safety on that West Virginia team a year ago was on the Rost during the pen State game not sure how many snaps he played he ended up getting injured I think missing portion of the Season before transferring out he's now at Nevada his PFF grad in the games he played 29.7 horrendous so again how much did West Virginia really lose at safety you could you could say m Hershey McLaren Jim Joseph even trade or did West Virginia upgrade we'll see before I get into the rest of the position groups I want to remind you that if you're looking for a new sports book for your betting in 2024 look no further than bet us you can check out the BET us Link in my description box or in the pin comment below I'm going to show you something that has happened in the last couple of days remember the line the spread for the Penn State Western game was at minus 10 and a half guess what money apparently has been coming in for West Virginia to cover because it is now dropped to eight and a half eight and a half point spread now in the game so if you were planning on taking the points like I was I'm now starting to reconsider because that's a tight spread I was going to pick West Virginia cover at 10 and a half I'm not so sure I'm confident with him at eight and a half I don't know maybe you are but if you decide to place that bet do so at bet Us online be be sure to take advantage of that offer they offering 12 they are offering 125% bonus on your first three deposits up to $2,000 take advantage of that offer today and again the link is in my description box or in the pin comment below now let's get back to the numbers I'm going to pull this spreadsheet back up and we'll continue looking at this now let's look at the cornerback position the starting corners for West Virginia in the the Penn State game a year ago were Beanie bishop and Andrew Wilson lamb now beanie Bishop we know that's a loss beanie Bishop had a overall PFF grade of 78.5 ended up signing a UD udfa deal with the Steelers may end up earning a starting spot with the Steelers or at least be their Nickelback was a consensus All American had an awesome year that's a loss there's no arguing that the other starter though was Andrew Wilson lamp who ended up losing his starting job about two or three games in and when you see this PFF grade you see why 41.6 on the year he transferred out guess where he landed East Carolina a group of five guess what he's going to be a second or maybe even third team player on that team he was starting against Penn State last year you wonder why Penn State was able to slice up that secondary that's part of the reason he did not have a good game did not play well and it really hurt the West Virginia team who's who we replacing and oh can't forget about Malachi Ruff and didn't start against Penn State ended up taking Andrew Wilson lamp's spot playing there the rest of the year he had a 72.6 grade not too bad for the year ended up graduating the two Replacements here or two of two of The Replacements anyway are Aiden Garnes who's coming in from Duane who by the way had an 87.4 PFF grade A year ago and Garnett Hollis Jr from Northwestern who had a 73 grade so to me at best I'm sorry at worst at worst you're probably coming out even at best you're improving there overall at least for this game you could say you know Bishop because you lose Bishop you can say there's a downgrade here but guys Andrew Wilson lamp played horrendous okay there's no way around it so the cornerback spot as a whole should be better in this game than it was a year ago now let's look on the right side of your screen at other positions you've got Jared Bartlett and Ty French coming off the edge The Edge rushers Jared Bartlett they called it a bandit last year he's spending his last season of college football playing at Cincinnati he was a three or four year starter at West Virginia decent player good player at times had some really great moments we all remember the game against Virginia Tech a few years ago where he had three or four sacks in one game he did lead the team in sacks a year ago but when you look at his overall PFF grade it was only 56 he's being replaced by Tai French they're now calling it a Spur or outside linebacker spot Tai French from Gardner web 74.2 PFF PFF grade and oh by the way he made the Athletics freak list that they put out every year about the biggest freaks in college football Tai French is on it so he's an athletic freak literally should be an upgrade there in my opinion nothing against Bartlett he was a seems like a great young man fine young man you know gave West Virginia his heart and soul for four years but I I think West Virginia upgraded at that spot again we'll see when the game start now the next three positions are guys are going to be filled by guys who were actually on the team a year ago and actually played a lot of snaps in some cases started games but just at a different position Zack Fraser obviously we know the story there ended up getting drafted second round by the Steelers was arguably the best center in all of college football a year ago he's been and he had a 75 PFF grade he's being replaced by Brandon Yates who was a guard a year ago now moving over to the starting Center Spot his PFF grade was only 58.5 this is the reason I said this is one of the things that keep me up at night I'm a little concern that the offensive line may take a small step back because of losing Zack Frasier and this next guy Doug Nester right tackle a year ago again last I heard he was still on NFL roster let me know if that's changed he was an undrafted free agent but he had a 71.1 grade the expected replacement there was backup tackle from last year Nick Malone who had a 62.1 grade so not as big of a difference as we saw with Center spot but again we'll Nick Malone be able to fill in successfully and play that position as well as Doug neter did time will tell and then finally the linebacker position middle linebacker Lee Koba played two solid years at West Virginia middle linebacker overall grade of 71.5 was the leading tackler from a year ago did struggle some in pass covers though so I think West will be improving there as far as pass covers at the linebacker spot his replacement will be Josiah Trotter who's a red shirt freshman who spent all last season injured likely would have started but was out with an injury will start this year alongside Trey lean who was the other starter from a year ago don't know if that's an upgrade yet I think it is because I think Josiah trer is a generational Talent hot take I think he could end up being the newcomer of the year the defensive newcomer of the year in the Big 12 for 2024 that's my hot take now let's look at the bottom left of your screen this is the players that transferred out and graduated from West Virginia compared to the players that are transferring in I didn't I didn't take the grades of the guys who were already on the roster this is guys who left versus guys who come in West Virginia is losing an average PFF grade of 61.5 replacing them with an average grade of 78.5 I'll take that all day every day now will that translate to more wind we will obviously see because we don't know the answer to that question just yet but that is my reasoning why West Virginia in my opinion has a very legitimate chance to beat Penn State on August 31st and why PN State should not look Overlook West Virginia West Virginia is going to be more talented will pen State be more talented I don't know I've I've done some research on pen state it appears to me that they're going to be about the same as a year ago talent-wise across the board the difference is there they have some new coaches maybe some new schemes and the players they do have from last year should be improved from last year right we will see you could say there are a fewer question marks on the Penn State roster than are at West Virginia's roster and that's fair that's fair to argue and I still think West Virginia is going to have to play their a game if not their A+ game to win but do not count out the talent level of this West Virginia roster hope you like the new background I try to play around with a little bit I wanted to I've been wan to figure out a way to represent the Big 12 other than just you know even though I'm a West Virginia fan I also cover the Big 12 and I wanted to represent them hopefully I did it justice let me know if you like the new background in the comments section want to give a shout out to my channel sponsors bet Us online sports book and casino remember if you do decide to play play respon responsibly and you must be 18 years of age or older also want to give a shout out to cats counter Stone 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