Penn State Football Returns To Action On The Road Against West Virginia

hello everybody and welcome back to the analytical Lon I'm Josh Davis it's been a long summer waiting for football to be back and we are finally here I have not had a live show this week the show should be starting again next week Casey's going to be back on it's going to be a ton of fun uh but I just wanted to get this video out for all of you guys for this first game obviously paying super close attention with things all through the summer fall Camp practice film all that and uh just finally ready it's game week and I wanted to get out the info for you guys as soon as possible get my prediction out there and we're going to check things out I mean this team simply simply put is going to be different than it was last year that is the main storyline going into this season for the first time in his career James Franklin is replacing all three coordinators got Justin lastig is the new teams Guy Tom Allen from Indiana it's going to be great as our DC Coach K coach kot Nikki coming in from Kansas to be the new OC and that is going to be the big thing to watch and not just coaches you got the new players got guys coming in from the transfer portal you got uh guys like Nolan Ruchi coming in to shore up the o line Julian Fleming replacing KS as the number one receiver um you got sky on the defense with AJ Harris and Jaylen Kimber coming in from the SEC to play cornerback for us and you have all these different changes going on you got J Reed playing the new Li position under coach Tom Allen and you just have all these different things and so going into this game I think the general consensus is oh yeah Penn State's going to destroy West Virginia West Virginia is a nobody blah blah blah and I feel like that's the mentality for a lot of Penn State fans going into this game and while I think my first gut reaction coming into this game was very similar to that it was yeah we should mop the floor at these guys this should be a statement Road Victory early on in week one a chance for this team to really prove that yeah we're going we're going to be a playoff Contender all throughout the season and a serious contender in the Big 10 conference now that we have the slightly easier schedule and I do think the Big 10 as a whole is weaker at the top than has been the last couple of Seasons I mean cheating or not Michigan won the national championship last year Ohio state has been competing in a national championship level the last couple of seasons and I don't think that's the case some people are saying that Ohio state is National Championship AB brust this year I'm they have so many questions that as of right now before I see them play a football game I cannot say that they're at a national championship level um I would say they can certainly play up to that and I would not be surprised Uris at all if Ohio State won the National Championship first off with Oregon I do not think they're at a national championship level they have a lot of talent again so many questions let's see them play some football first before we start saying that they're going to win The Natty um with Penn State it's a very similar situation to where there's so many changes throughout the entire program players and coaches that it's like guys let's make sure we take care of game one instead of just saying it's over already so you you look at this line it's like minus 8 or whatever it is it's been kind of changing a little bit throughout the week and it's like my first gut reaction that is oh my goodness Hammer that Penn State spread like how are we not going to win by more than eight 10 points and I think then if you think about it a lot more and you spend some time really trying to make your prediction you're like well I think there is like there's no world where West Virginia wins this game I think we could play our worst possible game they could play their best possible game and I still think we'd win we we out Talent West Virginia at every position on the field I think there's that situation where if things are going badly in the first half Penn State could just play the simplest football possible and still find a way to grind out the win but that would not at all be optimal the whole point of these new guys and the new coaches especially Coach K on offense is that you're being Dynamic you're not being predictable you're getting those big plays and you're making things happen that we just weren't able to do last year under last year's play calling system with that being said this is these guys first game in a whole new system people keep saying Drew all's more experience this year yeah but he's learning an entire new playbook that's going to be very unique something unlike anything he's ever played before all through his young football career and it's the same thing being said for anybody else in the offensive staff and the offensive system so I think that's just something to keep in mind going into this game it's no guarantee that the Penn State offense explodes it's no guarantee that West Virginia plays awful even though uh I don't think West Virginia is a bad team at all I just I don't think they're at all on the level of competing with a top 10 team in college football right now and good for them I don't think they play a top 10 top 15 team on their schedule so aside from us and so they're a team that I think could have success throughout the season after this game but I do not think that West Virginia will have success in this game I think one of the big reasons for that is due to their lack of pass rush defensively they are a team that has a solid defensive line that focus on focuses on stopping the run and then on offense they're a team that focuses on running the ball and I think both of those strengths of West Virginia play into the strengths of Penn State to where it's like if you can't get after Drew allar and you let him have time to make plays big plays are going to get drawn up and big players are going to happen with that and then on the flip side you are not going to be able to run the ball consistently enough to win this game against this Penn State Defense and now that Abdul Carter and den Deni Dennis Sutton are full-time DNS it could be a scary night for Garrick green if they can't protect him or fig figure out a way to consistently run the ball which I don't think is possible um I would be very surprised if West Virginia was able to consistently throw the ball especially considering that's just not really in their game plan or skill set so with all that being said my prediction I'm going to go 42 to 10 Penn State win but keep in mind this game could very much be closer than that I'm kind of predicting that on the side of things where I expect Penn State to come out and play very strongly in week one but there are many scenarios where we play a much closer game than that that'll be all make sure to tune in Monday nights at 8:20 p.m. on com radio and check out the Twitter X account for all of the other news thank you for watching stay tuned for the next one