University Park, Pa. – No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions (1-0) defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers (0-1), by a score of 38-15, Saturday night in front of 110,747 fans, the fourth-largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history to witness this lopsided victory.
The Nittany Lions pleased their faithful by outscoring the Mountaineers, 24-8, in the second half to pull away for the season-opening victory. Drew Allar shined in his first game as the Penn State’s starting quarterback, completing 21 of his 29 pass attempts and finishing with 325 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Allar and wide-receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith proved to be a strong connection all night, including a 72-yard touchdown on Penn State’s opening possession of the game, the start of the scoring onslaught. The night ended with Lambert-Smith tallied 123 receiving yards and a career-best two touchdown grabs on four catches.
West Virginia’s QB Garrett Greene finished the night 16 of 27 for 162 yards. He threw no interceptions and did a good job evading pressure against Penn State’s relentless defensive pressure, but his eyes were rarely fixated downfield since he was on the run most of the evening.
The Nittany Lions totaled 478 yards of offense (332 passing, 146 rushing) in a well-balanced attack. Running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen combined for 121 yards (70 for Singleton, 51 for Allen). Singleton scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter, highlighting his solid day on the ground.
Malik McClain gained 58 yards and caught a touchdown and Harrison Wallace III added 72 yards on a team-high seven receptions to pad to the offensive stats. Quarterback Beau Pribula scored a touchdown with a five-yard run in the final seconds of the fourth quarter. The Penn State defense held West Virginia’s offense to just 15 points and 310 total yards, allowing the Mountaineers to convert only four of their 14 third-down attempts. The Nittany Lions made three fourth-down stops during the game and held West Virginia’s passing attack to just 167 yards through the air.
UP NEXT:
Penn State will host Delaware at home for a 12:00 P.M. showdown.
