Penn State is like a blind date for WVU
By Bob Hertzel
For the Observer-Reporter
MORGANTOWN, W.Va — We’ve all been on blind dates and know the queasy feeling you have as you await the night to arrive.
What does he or she look like? Will he or she like me? Will I like him or her? What will we talk about? What kind of music does he or she like? Where should we go?
West Virginia football coach Neal Brown and his staff find themselves in a similar situation as they prepare for No. 8 Penn State and the opening game of the season at noon Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Now you’d think this wouldn’t be much of a problem, considering the two teams played a year ago. James Franklin is still Penn State’s head coach. Drew Allar remains at quarterback. Defensive end Abdul Carter is back to key the defense along with talented linebackers.
So, there is enough familiarity to think you might have a handle on what the Nittany Lions have in store for WVU, but it isn’t that simple. During the offseason, Franklin changed all three of his coordinators — offense, defense and special teams.
It’s almost like that blind date being with a girl or guy who just moved into town and you really don’t know what you are in store for.
How do you approach it as Andy Kotelnicki takes over the offense from the fired Mike Yurcich, Tom Allen comes in to replace Manny Diaz on defense, Diaz having moved on to Miami as the D-coordinator, and Justin Lustig becomes special teams coordinator in place of Stacy Collins?
“We always start from a personnel standpoint,” Brown explained. “You evaluate the personnel and the guys you think you’re going to see.
“You look at the strengths and weaknesses of those players and then start evaluating the schemes. It’s just a best guess.”
This being Franklin’s 11th year at Penn State, where his Nittany Lions have been the third wheel in a bicycle race for two-wheelers named Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten, WVU is familiar with his philosophies and tendencies.
But for the coordinators, he has to look into their careers.
They feel like they have a grasp on what Kotelnicki brings as he spent the years 2015 to 2020 as OC at Buffalo and also was at Kansas from 2021 to 2023. Brown played against Buffalo while at Troy just before getting the WVU job.
At WVU, things did not go well in the one time he faced Kotelnicki at Kansas, losing 55-42 in overtime … and it’s safe to believe that the coach has far better personnel at Penn State than he had at Kansas.
“He didn’t take the job because they didn’t have players. That’s a pressure position he’s taken,” Brown said. “He probably made a calculated decision and looked at that roster and said, ‘Oh, yeah, they have some players, especially at running back and tight end and some young wideouts.’ He has some pieces there and there’s lots of things he can do. We just take our best guess.”
The one thing he doesn’t have to guess about is the quarterback, Allar, who last year completed 21 of 29 passes for 325 yards and three touchdowns against WVU.
The question is, will Allar be used in the same way, especially after his three worst performances came in Penn State’s three losses last year to Ohio State, Michigan and Ole Miss?
“It will be interesting to see how much carryover there is from Kansas to Penn State,” WVU defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley said. “The personnel is quite a bit different than how he used the personnel at Kansas.”
All of this makes it difficult on the players on the field, who are going to have to adjust on the fly as they go into a new season.
Until they go out there and flip the coin, you don’t really know how this blind date will work out.