Freshman Drew Allar passed for 325 yards and three touchdowns to lead seventh-ranked Penn State to a 38-15 victory over West Virginia tonight at sold-out Beaver Stadium.
A crowd of 110,747, fourth-largest in Beaver Stadium history, watched Allar complete 21 of his 29 pass attempts, four of those going to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
"We came into tonight's game wanting to make Allar play well - and he did," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said afterward.
Penn State (1-0) outgained West Virginia 478-to-310, converted 27 first downs to West Virginia's 17 and averaged 7.4 yards per play compared to West Virginia's 4.6. The Mountaineers outrushed the Lions 148 to 146 but were just 4 of 14 on their third-down conversions.
Total plays (67 to 65) and time of possession (31:16 to 28:44) were also in the Mountaineers' favor.
"We came into the game wanting to be aggressive, go for it on third and fourth down and win time of possession, and if we converted some more of those, we add a couple more minutes of possession time," Brown said.
After a West Virginia punt on the game's opening possession backed Penn State up to its 5-yard line, PSU drew first blood on its fourth play when Allar flipped a pass down field in the direction of KeAndre Lambert-Smith. West Virginia safety Aubrey Burks misplayed the ball, Lambert-Smith caught it and raced untouched into the end zone. The play covered 72 yards.
West Virginia (0-1) answered two possessions later.
Garrett Greene began the drive with an 11-yard run to the 42, moved the sticks on fourth and short with a 1-yard keeper to the PSU 48, and then found a wide-open Devin Carter down the far sideline for 37 yards to the Nittany Lion 11.
From there, it was all CJ Donaldson Jr., including the scoring jaunt from the 1.
It took Penn State 10 plays and 4:59 of game time to untie it as Allar went to work on West Virginia's secondary again. The freshman completed all five of his throws on the drive, including a 30-yard hookup to Lambert-Smith to the WVU 16.
An Allar 9-yard pass to Malik McClain and an Allar 5-yard run set up Nick Singleton's 2-yard touchdown. Sander Sahaydak's conversion kick gave Penn State a 14-7 lead with 9:10 left in the second quarter.
However, Sahaydak's next two kicks were unsuccessful. His first miss from the WVU 21 came with 2:05 left in the half and his second from the 17 came with 22 seconds left.
In between, West Virginia's offense was unable to convert a fourth and 5 from the Penn State 43 with 5:01 left and then missed a third and 6 from its own 25 with 1:24 remaining.
So, instead of potentially being down 28-7, West Virginia got into the locker room at halftime trailing by just a touchdown.
After the two teams exchanged possessions to begin the third quarter, the Nits got the ball back at their 44 and marched 56 yards in seven plays. Allar completed passes of 8 and 14 yards and Singleton ran three times for 19 yards before Allar found a wide-open Lambert-Smith in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown.
Columbia transfer Alex Felkins replaced Sahaydek and hit the conversion.
West Virginia's attempt to answer ended on downs at the Penn State 27. Twice, Greene tried to get the ball to sophomore wide receiver Preston Fox, once in the end zone and again at the 14, but both passes fell incomplete.
"We were going to lay it on the line. They made some explosive plays," Brown said. "We we had some opportunities; we didn't make the plays and they made them."
Penn State tacked on three more to begin the fourth quarter when Felkins punched through a 26-yard field goal. The Lions had three cracks from the West Virginia 7, but two Allar passes were dropped and Kaytron Allen was thrown for a 1-yard loss by Beanie Bishop and Davoan Hawkins.
After West Virginia's third unsuccessful fourth-down conversion try, this time on its side of the 50, Penn State extended its lead to 31-7 and needed to travel just 42 yards, the remaining 25 coming on Allar's 25-yard pass to Malik McClain, who weaved his way through the Mountaineer secondary.
Here, West Virginia had its best offensive possession of the game. Greene completed passes of 7 yards to Traylon Ray and 22 yards to Devin Carter to the Penn State 46. Another Greene pass down the middle to Carter moved the ball to the 29, and then a Greene run on fourth-and-short gave WVU a new set of downs at the 11. Quarterback Garrett Greene
Donaldson carried the ball to the 1 before Greene finished the drive one play later. WVU's two-point conversion play, beginning with a merry-go-round formation, ended with Greene shoveling a pass to Donaldson, who carried the ball across the goal line.
After West Virginia's unsuccessful onside kick, Penn State marched the ball to 17 and converted a fourth and 2 to the Mountaineer 5 with less than a minute remaining. Here, the Lions could have taken a knee and run out the clock, but instead opted to run another play, and backup quarterback Beau Pribula squeezed into the end zone for the game's final score.
Greene finished the night completing 16 of his 27 pass attempts for 162 yards, six of those going to Carter for 90 yards.
"I think they are a really talented defense, but it comes down to me not making enough plays," Greene said.
Donaldson led all rushers with 81 yards on 18 attempts. Singleton led Penn State with 70 yards on just 13 attempts. West Virginia linebacker Lee Kpogba was the game's top tackler with 13 stops.
Penn State was penalized just once for 5 yards while West Virginia was flagged five times for 55 yards.
Tonight's attendance was the largest crowd to watch a West Virginia football game, exceeding the 101,851 that saw the Mountaineers defeat 11th-ranked Texas 48-45 in Austin, Texas, in 2012. This was the Mountaineers' first trip to Beaver Stadium since 1991.
West Virginia opens the home portion of its schedule next Saturday against Duquesne and then follows with the Backyard Brawl.
"We need to be significantly better in two weeks, but I know we are a good football team," Brown concluded.
