Explosive plays. That was the biggest thing missing for Penn State last season in its 10-2 campaign.

In 2023, the Nittany Lions had just eight plays of 40 yards or more.

Against West Virginia last week, Penn State is already halfway there as it tallied four plays of 40 yards or more in an impressive 34-12 win over the Mountaineers.

A Drew Allar pass to Trey Wallace III for 50 yards right at the start of the second quarter got the Nittany Lions offense going and they never looked back. Allar was both efficient and aggressive on the afternoon, throwing for 216 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Allar made plays with his arm down the field, which is what both football analysts and Penn State faithful wanted to see. Allar also made some nice plays with his legs on the day, running for three first downs and showing an ability to move around in the pocket. He finished the game with 44 rushing yards at 7.3 yards per carry.

The Penn State rushing attack looked explosive in Morgantown as well, with Nick Singleton rushing for 114 yards and a touchdown at almost nine yards per carry. In the game, the Nittany Lions rushed for 222 yards at 5.3 yards per carry.

As noted in my column last week, I believed it was going to be tough for West Virginia to run the football on the Nittany Lions’ defense, despite what the Mountaineers faithful and media members thought coming into the game. I just didn’t think it was a good match-up for WVU and that turned out to be the case.

The Mountaineers were only able to muster 85 yards on the ground at 2.3 yards per carry. Once again, the Penn State defense just looked more physical and a lot faster than West Virginia and that showed, especially in the run game. The Nittany Lions’ defense came up with six tackles for loss in the game.

“One of the things I think was interesting is, if you do a statistical comparison between our West Virginia game last year and our West Virginia game this year, no one is really talking about our defense and our defense really played well,” said Penn State head coach James Franklin. “If you look at last year, we gave up 15 points; this year we gave up 12. So, we were better in that. Better in points per possession. We were better in explosive plays. We were better in total yards allowed. We were better in rushing yards allowed. We were better in yards per carry. We were better in passing yards allowed and yards per attempt. Third down efficiency was exactly the same, which was interesting. We were better in average third down yardage forced. We were better in takeaways. The only category we weren’t better in was sacks. Three last year, two this year. So, I think on a real positive note, our defense played better, and then not only did they play better, but they also played better on the road without the home environment.”

The Penn State defense will need to set the tone early again later today (Noon ET, BTN) against a Bowling Green opponent that put up 41 points last week, albeit against FCS opponent Fordham. Still, Bowling Green showed some good things, especially in the run game. Their top running back from last season in Terion Stewart returned and he rushed for 161 yards and three touchdowns against the Rams. Another player to watch out for is tight end Harold Fannin Jr. who hauled in six catches for 67 yards. Last season. Fannin Jr. 44 catches for 623 yards and six touchdowns.

“They’re a run-first offense, predominantly, but do a good job at the quarterback position and taking shots where appropriate,” said Franklin. “We’re impressed with their tight end No Harold Fannin, running back Terion Stewart and their quarterback, Connor Bezelak, who has some history here in the Big Ten as well.”

Bowling Green struggled against the run last week, giving up 182 yards on the ground. That does not bode well for the Falcons against a Penn State rushing attack that looked explosive against West Virginia. If the Nittany Lions get the running game early expect Allar to take some shots down the field early as well off play-action.

Las Vegas has Penn State as a 35-point favorite over Bowling Green. The Falcons are no slouch and will contend in the MAC this season, but the Nittany Lions team speed and their running game should prove to be too much for Bowling Green to handle.

My Pick is: Penn State 44, Bowling Green 6.