The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 34-12 win over West Virginia

The Nittany Lions opened their season on the road Saturday in a game that went longer than expected due to a lengthy weather delay. Let’s get straight into the good, the bad and the ugly of Penn State’s 34-12 win over West Virginia that could help shape the course of the season.

Good

Safety Jaylen Reed: Let’s start with the best player on the defense Saturday afternoon. Reed seems to be the top beneficiary of James Franklin hiring Tom Allen as his new defensive coordinator. Allen brings with him a 4-2-5 defense that uses its fifth defensive back as a hybrid safety/linebacker rather than a nickel corner. This season, that’s Reed. He was lined up all over the defense for the Nittany Lions, creeping into the box, drifting toward the sideline, fading deeper into the secondary — you name it, he was doing it.

And it paid off with several big plays, including him breaking up a West Virginia deep shot on the first play of the game that could have changed the shape of the rest of the afternoon. And then a few plays later he blew up a screen. And later on he broke up another pass. You get the idea. I don’t know if there are many people who expected Reed to be a focal point of this defense, but right now it sure seems that will be the case.

The entire defense: Now that Reed has gotten the credit he deserves, let’s shift to the rest of the unit that played well — all of it. Allen’s debut as a a PSU coordinator was a resounding success. A West Virginia offense that had dreams of pulling off an upset on the back of a strong running back duo and a dual threat quarterback that can put pressure on any defense instead fell flat on its face. And its only touchdown came on a C.J. Donaldson run that included the ball appearing to come up short of the goal line, despite no review coming to determine whether that was the case.

Regardless of that phantom score, Allen’s defense was elite. The expectations for any new DC under Franklin can be daunting given the success of those who came before during this era of Penn State football, but Allen surpassed them in his debut. This defense is swarming, with athleticism at all three levels and potential draft picks filling up most of the depth chart. It wouldn’t be a surprise if we’re talking about this group as the best in the country by the end of the season.

Quarterback Drew Allar: Let’s get to the offense and start with the star of the show. Allar played arguably the best game of his short career so far against West Virginia Saturday. He was precise most of the time — there was an errant throw or two in there — and frequently showed off the arm talent that still excites NFL scouts, including those in the building in Morgantown. But most importantly, he was confident and that’s something I’m not certain was the case for the entirety of the 2023 season. Allar played like a quarterback who trusted his teammates and his coaches, but most importantly himself, and it helped him finish with 216 passing yards on 11-of-17 passing.

Some of that is because he’s matured a year. After all, he’s still only 20 years old. But some of it comes from the new leader of the offense and what he’s done. Speaking of whom...

Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki: The last eight-plus months were spent speculating how much of an impact Kotelnicki would have as Penn State’s offensive coordinator and if it would be enough to matter in the long run — or even be enough to be noticeable. Well, I think any questions have been answered. The OC was toying with West Virginia at times, trotting out several different personnel packages on each drive and running similar plays with different window dressing, like different formations and motions, to distract the Mountaineers from what was actually happening.

To put it simply, everything just seemed easier for Penn State. The throws, the route combinations, the run blocking schemes, the decisions. All of it came naturally and as if every Nittany Lion knew they were about to outsmart their opponent on every play — even when they didn’t. If that isn’t one of the highest compliments you can give someone who runs an offense full of misdirection and creativity, I don’t know what is.

Wide receiver Tre Wallace: And on to WR1. Wallace was the talk of the offseason but there was reasonable skepticism because of the receivers’ struggles last season. Well, he quelled those concerns quickly. Wallace had half of the team’s 18 targets and caught five passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns. That includes a back-shoulder fade thrown by Allar that Wallace had to contort himself around to get to, and then tap his foot in on the last offensive play of the half. His athleticism has always been present, but Wallace looks bigger and stronger this year and like a receiver who is ready for the workload of a true number one.

If he stays healthy then he should be in for a breakout season on the offense, with a few more performances like the one in Morgantown in store for the offense this year.

Running back Nick Singleton: Some weeks the running backs will be flipped in these categories, but for now it’s Singleton who led the backfield. The junior running back broke off two 40-yard runs in the game and looked comfortable in Kotelnicki’s offense, even picking up the blitz well when he was tasked with doing so. It will be interesting to see how his role changes as the season moves on. Presumably he won’t be leaned on for a few weeks with two bad MAC teams coming to town for the Nittany Lions’ next two games. But once Big Ten play rolls around, he will likely be a focal point again.

That should mean more creative play designs to get him in space and maybe a few less touches between the tackles. He’s as dangerous of a player as any when he’s in space and proved it once again this week. Now it’s about incorporating more opportunities for him to do that.

Bad

Running back Kaytron Allen: It’s worth noting that Allen wasn’t actually bad. He definitely wasn’t as good as he usually is, but his touchdown catch appeared to be an excellent read by him. He stayed in to pass protect on the play, alerting the linebacker — who was only set to blitz if Allen didn’t go out on a route (often called a green dog) — that he could rush. Once the linebacker sprinted toward the backfield, Allen released out behind him for an easy reception that he turned into a score with some good work after the catch.

With all of that said, Allen struggled between the tackles in the game and was unable to create much after contact for the Nittany Lions. I don’t expect that to be the case forever, though, and his pass-catching ability, pass blocking and patience as a runner should lead to a bounce back game relatively quickly.

Ugly

The kicking situation: Tough to pick much out of a dominant win for the Nittany Lions, but I’ll buy a little into the tiny sample size of Sander Sahaydak missing his only field goal attempt. Sahaydak was in a position battle with Chase Meyer and Ryan Barker this offseason and seemed to come out on top since he had the first crack at a field goal in the game. Then the left-footed kicker pulled that attempt right and who knows what that will mean.

Fortunately for Penn State, Kotelnicki is aggressive enough to press for more fourth-down attempts — even in field goal range — but there will still be times when a kicker is needed. It will be interesting to see if that remains Sahaydak, or if Meyer or Barker eventually gets a shot.