Nittany Nation will be watching PSU’s opening statement
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Penn State's venture into college football's new era begins today at a familiar old opponent, West Virginia.
There's no sport that can equal the hype of football - during the week and definitely throughout the offseason as the teams gear up to build on or the erase the memories of a year ago.
There's added drama this year with the dawning of a 12-team playoff that will create further analysis and weekly projections of the December field.
It may lessen the game-of-the-year mentality that has accompanied the biggest matchups on the schedule (read: Ohio State), but it will also reduce some pressure that you have to run the table in order to crack the College Football Playoff field.
That said, in order to think it's getting to the CFP bracket, Penn State can't afford to lose today.
It's hard to envision a 9-3 team sliding into the playoff so a toestub in Morgantown -- which is possible -- means the Nittany Lions would need to go no worse than 10-1 from here.
Penn State faced a difficult road opener two years ago at Purdue -- then, too, with an experienced quarterback in Sean Clifford -- and that should serve the Lions well, more so than opening with a glorified scrimmage.
James Franklin acknowledged the intensity through fall camp has been "heightened" because of the looming challenge.
"Purdue was a great example," he said. "I think it has been helpful, and it gets everybody's attention."
The Lions are 3-2 in road openers under Franklin, losing to Temple in 2015 when the program was still in rebuilding mode and 2020 on the Michael Penix pylon 2-point conversion that wasn't.
Penn State won Franklin's very first road game, beating UCF in Ireland on a Sam Ficken field goal and winning at Wisconsin 16-10 in 2021 and 35-31 at Purdue a year later.
A team's season-opening performance is often tied to whether it's been worked too hard in the preseason or paced well enough so it's collective legs are fresh.
The Lions dominated West Virginia in last year's opener at home, 38-15, and we'll see how much of that gap the Mountaineers have made up. The oddsmakers have Penn State as a 7.5-point favorite, which has dropped.
Unlike the last two opening road tests, Wisconsin and Purdue, today is a bit different in that this could well be the final time the Lions play West Virginia.
With the addition of Pac-12 teams, it's highly doubtful - at least under Franklin - that Penn State will schedule non-conference teams aggressively. Especially old rivals.
Aside from Pitt (100 meetings) and Syracuse (71), Penn State's 60 matchups with West Virginia are the most in Nittany Lion history, and the Mountaineer fan base would like nothing more than to end their relationship vs. Penn State with a win.
Which brings me to some nitpicking and a couple keys today:
N The Nits need a good start in order to avoid encouraging WVU's crowd.
N Mountaineeer quarterback Garrett Greene rushed for 700-plus yards last year (6.4 per carry) and must be kept in check.
N We're all eager to get a first glimpse of new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki's work. Mike Yurcich was fired in part because he didn't get enough out of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Let's see if Kotelnicki commits to a run game before leaning too heavily on Drew Allar and his unproven receivers.
N Projected backup tight end Khalil Dinkins (16) is injured and unlikely to play, which means opportunities for Andrew Rappleyea (87) and true freshman Luke Reynolds (85) behind or alongside Tyler Warren.
N The Lions got into some key short-yardage, potential option chances last year but shied away from backup quarterback Beau Pribula. Keep an eye out to see if there's a package for him as a change of pace.
N Reminder of the main rule changes: Coaches can communicate via helmet technology with one member of the offense (QB) and defense (usually an LB) and for the first time, there will be a two-minute warning at the end of the second and fourth quarters.
Rudel can be reached at nrudel@altoonamirror.com. He will respond to brief questions and comments in Gameday.