Penn State football team storms past West Virginia in season opener [updated] (2024)

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Only a late-summer wave of thunderstorms was able to stop Penn State Saturday at Mountaineer Field.

Drew Allar passed for three touchdowns, Harrison Wallace III caught two scoring throws and Nick Singleton scored on a long run as the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions beat West Virginia 34-12 in a season opener.

With new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki calling creative plays, Allar looked confident and completed 11-of-16 passes for 216 yards and rushed six times for 44 yards in Penn State’s first game at West Virginia since 1992.

Penn State scored on Allar’s 18-yard pass to Wallace with six seconds left in the half. And then after a 139-minute weather delay, the Lions scored again on their first series in the third quarter.

“I thought that opening drive (of the third quarter) was huge,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “We talk about the middle eight (the final four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half) a lot. Those two scores were probably the most significant in the game.

“I thought our guys handled it well. I thought our staff handled it really well. It was reflective in starting the second half with a touchdown.”

Singleton, looking like he did as a freshman two years ago, burst through the middle for a 40-yard touchdown behind blocks by tackle Drew Shelton and guard Sal Wormley.. He wound up carrying 13 times for 114 yards.

“It sets a great tone,” said Singleton, the former Gov. Mifflin star. “It starts up front. It’s just me using my vision and patience. It’s a good start. We have to keep it going.”

Singleton’s second 40-yard run set up backup quarterback Beau Pribula’s 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Warren, which made it 34-12 in the fourth quarter.

Kaytron Allen, Singleton’s backfield mate, caught a 20-yard TD pass from Allar in the second quarter. Wallace finished with five receptions for a career-high 117 yards, all in the first half.

“We saw Tre (Wallace) be who we always thought he was,” Allar said. “It was really good to see that. Obviously he had a lot of big-time catches and explosive plays down the field.”

Penn State safeties KJ Winston, who had 12 tackles, and Jaylen Reed, who had nine, were outstanding on defense. They helped limit West Virginia to 246 total yards, including just 85 on the ground on 37 attempts.

“Me and J-Reed made sure we were going to practice like it was a game,” Winston said. “Every time we had an opportunity to make a game-like rep, we made sure to do that. If you do that all week, the game is second nature because you’ve been doing it all week.”

Allar and Wallace dominated the first half, Allar was 8-for-13 for 199 yards and three scores, including a 20-yarder to Allen.

Penn State’s season began in a shaky manner when Allar couldn’t corral Nick Dawkins’ snap and West Virginia recovered. Allar quickly complained to the officials that the Mountaineers were simulating the snap count, but the play stood.

Later in the first quarter, Penn State’s Kobe King, Dominic DeLuca and KJ Winston stopped Greene for no gain on fourth-and-1 at the Lions’ 16.

On the next series, Allar connected with Wallace for gains of 18 and 14 yards before he hit him in stride on a crossing pattern for a 50-yard touchdown to put the Lions up 6-0.

“It was great to see Tre, a guy we’ve been talking about for a while, have a big game,” Franklin said.

In the second quarter, Penn State drove 71 yards for another touchdown. Allar scrambled for 15 yards, found Wallace for 17 yards on third-and-15, Warren for 7 yards on fourth-and-4 and then Allen for a 20-yard score and a 13-0 lead.

West Virginia’s Michael Hayes kicked field goals of 38 and 39 yards in the first half, but the Mountaineers didn’t reach the end zone until CJ Donaldson’s 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

By then, Penn State was in command. The Lions finished the scoring on Pribula’s play-action pass to Warren.

“There’s a lot more to come,” Singleton said. “I loved it, man. We have a lot of different weapons. You could see a lot of players are involved. Coach K (Kotelnicki) has been really good with the schemes.”

Originally Published: August 31, 2024 at 5:49 p.m.