#7 Penn State Nittany Lions[1-0] defeats unranked West Virginia[0-1] Mountaineers 38-15. Next week, Penn State hosts unranked Delaware while West Virginia hosts unranked Duquesne.
1st Quarter: On Drew Allar’s second completion, he threw a 72-yard Penn State touchdown to Wide Receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith. Punts seen from both teams throughout the quarter.
2nd Quarter: Running Back C.J. Donaldson Jr. runs in a 1-yard touchdown for West Virginia. Penn State Running Back Nicholas Singleton runs in a 2-yard touchdown. West Virginia turns the ball over on downs at the Penn State 43-yard line. Penn State Kicker Sander Sahaydak misses a 39-yard field goal wide right. Penn State Kicker Sander Sahaydak misses a 34-yard field goal wide right. Penn State leads 14-7 at halftime.
3rd Quarter: Drew Allar again finds KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 12-yard touchdown. West Virginia turns the ball over on downs at the Penn State 27-yard line.
4th Quarter: Penn State Kicker Alex Felkins makes a 25-yard field goal. West Virginia turns the ball over on downs at the West Virginia 42-yard line. Drew Allar throws a 25-yard touchdown to Wide Receiver Malik McClain. West Virginia Quarterback Garrett Greene runs in a 1-yard touchdown(2-point conversion is successful with a Garrett Greene shovel pass to C.J. Donaldson Jr.). Penn State backup Quarterback Beau Pribula runs in a 5-yard touchdown with 6 seconds left. Penn State wins 38-15.
Key Nittany Lions of the Game
Drew Allar: Great start for Allar. He had just a couple of off-target passes. One pass should not have been thrown toward the endzone and almost got intercepted. Allar went 21/29, had 325 passing yards, and completed 3 passing touchdowns.
KeAndre Lambert-Smith: He set the tone early as being the top target for Allar. I have always liked Lambert-Smith and now that he has an elite passer throwing him the ball he will take his game to a new level. He finished the game with 4 catches for 123 receiving yards and 2 receiving touchdowns.
Run Defense: The worst part of the night, behind the starting kicker, was stopping the run. Whether it was West Virginia’s Running Backs or Quarterback, the Nittany Lions struggled to stop anyone running with the ball. We saw this during the Michigan game last year and hopefully, a change is made soon.
Overall: Like most games this weekend involving top-ranked teams, this game showed the rust. Some drops, some missed assignments and struggles with blocking. I see a brighter future for this group than in any year that I have been watching Penn State football.
-Jordan Burden, Penn State Alumni