With an experienced quarterback and improvement spotted at wide receiver, head coach Jams Franklin signaled the possibility of loosening the reins on a potentially explosive offense this season.
The first signal of what’s to come from the Nittany Lions is Saturday when the 8th-ranked Nittany Lions open the season with a trip to Morgantown to face old rival West Virginia.
Penn State, which went 10-3 last year with a loss in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl to Ole Miss, returns quarterback Drew Allar. He threw for 2,631 yards with 25 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in 389 attempts.
Franklin identified the receiving corps as the most improved group on the team, and more is expected from Allar. By extension, there are greater expectations on an offense that last year was tasked with not losing the game in a conservative bend.
“If you look at kind of across the board, a guy like Mekhi Flowers has really stepped up for us,” said Franklin, naming off various wide receivers. “Tyler Johnson has really stepped up for us. I think Anthony Ivey has really stepped up for us. That’s a critical group.”
One concern is an offensive line that suffered serious losses. While Franklin has been happy with their progress during training camp, he also knows that working against your own guys every day and then playing your first game in front of 70,000 fans at Mountaineer Field are two totally different scenarios.
“Home field advantage is a real thing,” Franklin said. “It’s one thing to do it at home. It’s another thing to do it on the road with 70,000 people that hate you.”
West Virginia might not buy the underdog role.
The Mountaineers are coming off a surprising 9-4 season that took coach Neal Brown off the hot seat, culminating in a Duke’s Mayo Bowl rout of a depleted North Carolina squad.
Getting Penn State in town for the first time in 32 years – add to that the fact that FOX picked this for its Big Noon Kickoff to start the year – means there will be no lack of energy.
Can West Virginia turn a big opportunity into an immediate signature win?
“Our guys are excited about the opportunity. It’s going to be a great challenge. It’s not going to be make-or-break our season either way,” Brown said. “But I’m not trying to minimize the importance of it. … The spotlight is on Morgantown. I fully expect our fans and our community to blossom under the bright lights.”
It won’t hurt that like the Nittany Lions, the Mountaineers return their quarterback. Garrett Greene threw for 2,406 yards while adding 772 yards and 13 touchdowns on the ground. Brown said Greene has been much more accurate in camp.
“We’re a lot better passing team,” Brown said. “Our receivers are stronger and they’re faster, and we’ve added a couple bigger body guys. We’ll look significantly different from a passing perspective than we did a year ago.”
In last year’s 38-15 loss at Penn State, Greene completed 16 of 27 passes for 162 yards while running for 71 yards and a score. Allar hit on 21 of 29 attempts for 325 yards and three touchdowns.
The Nittany Lions own a 49-9-2 lead in the all-time series.
