West Virginia vs Penn State Rivalry Game 2024 Preview

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00:00So, the rivalry renews today in Morgantown between West Virginia and Penn State.

00:09The Nittany Lions, a seven and a half point road favorite against the Mountaineers.

00:12The total easy guy at 49 and a hook.

00:16There is optimism for both of these clubs entering this season.

00:19A golden opportunity for Penn State now with the easiest schedule in the Big Ten to finally

00:25get to the college football playoff under James Franklin and Neil Brown.

00:29Led WVU to nine wins a season ago.

00:33How do these two teams match up to start off this season?

00:35Well, it's going to be a rivalry game, as you know, and James Franklin did stick it

00:39to them as a 20 and a half point favorite.

00:41I was on West Virginia last year.

00:43He scored with five seconds left to get the win in the cover.

00:46But it's going to come down, Ben, to Drew Aller and Garrett Green, both quarterbacks

00:50in terms of this matchup.

00:51You look at Drew Aller last year, three losses.

00:54We talked about it all offseason to Ohio State, Michigan, and Ole Miss.

00:58He completed less than 50 percent of his passes.

01:01Garrett Green is a mobile quarterback, new defensive coordinator, and Tom Allen taking

01:05over for Manny Diaz.

01:07They're going to have to contain Garrett Green, Kev, on the ground.

01:10Best game for Drew Aller was two.

01:12It was the loss to Ole Miss.

01:14He threw for over 300, but it was week one.

01:16Guess what?

01:17West Virginia, 323 and three touchdowns.

01:20I think this game goes to the fourth quarter.

01:22I could see a 24-20 Penn State.

01:24They tack on a late touchdown.

01:26They get the win, the cover, and the over comes in.

01:28I like Penn State here.

01:30I think they can smash this team.

01:32There's not...

01:33Listen, we all know I like to do my spread math.

01:34Right.

01:35A little difficult when it's week one, because our comparison points aren't as simple, except

01:39right here, because we have a year-over-year bit of spread math that we can do.

01:43And essentially, if you look at last year's line, move everything around with home field

01:46advantage, it says that these teams have grown a touchdown closer year-over-year.

01:51No way.

01:52I don't see that at all.

01:54I understand West Virginia brings back a lot on their offense.

01:56The offense is a little fraudulent.

01:57Can we look at their top games from last season, in terms of at least playing top defenses?

02:0215 against this Penn State team.

02:04Rivalry spot against Narduzian Pitt, 17.

02:07Oh, you held them to 20.

02:09So this is a team here against still what's going to be a really good Penn State defense.

02:13Abdul Carter's going to wreak havoc.

02:14I mean, Carrick Green should even drop back in this game.

02:16And you're going to see this team, I think, top out at around 20 points.

02:20And then you get to the Penn State offense, which is going to be better.

02:24I know they lost some of the offensive line, and in that wide receiver room, it is about

02:28Andy Kotelnicki.

02:29You're hearing the name a lot.

02:31You should be hearing it a lot.

02:32He took Kansas and made it a top 15 offense in college football.

02:37That is crazy.

02:39And now he's here at Penn State with Drew Aller.

02:42I think this offense today is going to be able to get to 30, which is going to get this

02:46a double-digit victory.

02:48And it's another reason why I'm going to play Drew Aller over 14 and a half rushing yards.

02:5328 or more yards on the ground in four of his last five games last season.

02:57And he's apparently leaned out during camp.

03:00James Franklin said he expects him to be more mobile this year.

03:03And that's something that Kotelnicki was used to at Kansas with Jalen Daniels and Jason

03:08Bean.

03:09Of all the props on my card today, Drew Aller over 14 and a half rushing is my favorite.

03:12One of my favorite coordinator hires of the offseason, poaching Andy Kotelnicki from Lawrence

03:18and bringing him to State College as creative of an offensive mind as you will see in college

03:24football.

03:25It should benefit Drew Aller tremendously.

03:28A very highly touted five-star recruit that struggled in his biggest spots a year ago

03:34except for, as Joe mentioned, against the Mountaineers.

03:3721 of 29 in the season opener in Happy Valley for more than 320 yards and three touchdowns.

03:44Now, where West Virginia buttered its bread last year was on the ground.

03:48They were the best rushing attack in the Big 12, better than 229 yards per game.

03:54And all three of their leading rushers that all put up more than 770 yards a season ago

03:59are back.

04:00Jaheim White, CJ Donaldson, those are the running backs, and Garrett Green, the quarterback,

04:05also running for more than 770 yards.

04:08But Penn State's going to be darn good on defense.

04:11And although Manny Diaz is not there, Tom Allen is a great defensive mind, struggled

04:16the last few years as the head coach for Indiana and Bloomington, but a really sound defense

04:21that was the third best scoring and rushing defense in the country, allowing less than

04:2670 yards per game a season ago.

04:28Abdul Carter is the name to know.

04:30If you like Micah Parsons, keep an eye on Abdul Carter.

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