what if Penn State loses to West Virginia in week one this would be I cannot emphasize how important this game is potentially for the Big 12 and for Penn State this is just a really difficult non-conference game it's a really difficult non-conference opener one you travel into a place it's extremely hard to play okay it's going to be absolutely insane when you walk into Morgantown and you got to play in that level of hostility week one so it's going to be a really tough venue really tough place to play I've done multiple games in Morgantown one of the most underrated places in America I love it um that being said I think back to what Penn State has excelled at the last few years okay they've been unbelievable defensively I mean one of the best in the country top three in several metrics uh have given up less than 14 points per game uh the only two teams that that have fared better than that are Michigan and Ohio State last year if you look at the amount of yards given up defensively Penn State was at the top so this is a defense that has been amazing the one black guy though last year was the Michigan game and while they clearly played really hard against Michigan Michigan ran the ball 30 consecutive plays to kind of close out the game 30 consecutive plays and just pounded it over and over and over again it wasn't big plays they weren't manufacturing chunk yardage it was just one after another like Nova cane you give it time it always works that of course dropped Penn State and Jim Franklin's record against Ohio State and Michigan to just one and 14 um in the last when they've been ranked in the top 10 you look overall James Franklin has been great in games like this he's 80 and 18 against everyone not named Michigan and Ohio State and against Michigan and Ohio State overall you're just four and 16 of course did have three wins against Michigan when Michigan wasn't so good did beat Ohio State back in 16 on the blocked field goal but if you think back to the recipe that Michigan used in success against State last year it was by pounding the football guess what West Virginia can do they can pound the football they're the only team in the country with three 750 yard rushers last year and what's interesting is that all three are back which is unique and all three can exploit you in different ways Garrett green excellent as a quarterback would like to see him continue to become more consistent throwing it but we know CJ Donaldson is a hammer 240 PBS difficult to bring down not a guy that you want to face in the hole when short yardage games and plays are are there in the balance Jem white we know what he's like when you get him out in Space the guy's ridiculous absolutely electric the Mountaineers last year averaged almost 230 rushing yards a game that was the fourth most in the country that was the most among the power five only ruter ran the ball with more regularity 59% than West Virginia who called a run play 57% of the time last year so if there's ever been a recipe or a recreating what they're going to try to do I think West Virginia is gonna watch that Michigan tape and they're gonna say we're GNA try to do exactly what they did I don't know how successful they'll be because I don't think West Virginia's offensive line is as good as Michigan's was last year but still I think they're going to try to pound it I think they try to shrink the game I think it's going to be a really physical game week one in Morgantown