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Athlon Sports
Nick Saban Predicts Major College Football Upset on Saturday
By Chris Phelps,
3 hours ago
On Saturday, August 31, the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions open up their 2024 college football season with a visit to Morgantown to face the West Virginia Mountaineers.
The Lions are coming off a disappointing ending to the 2023 season, losing to the Ole Miss Rebels in the Peach Bowl 38-25. They finished the season 10-3, with their only other two losses coming against Ohio State and Michigan.
During the Week 1 edition of "College GameDay," the crew made their picks for the Penn State vs. WVU matchup. Former Alabama Crimson Tide coach, who is from Fairmont, West Virginia, revealed that he has the Mountaineers pulling off the big upset to start the season.
"I was thinking Penn State, but when I got here today, and we sang Country Road, I had to go with West Virginia," Saban said. "So I'm taking West Virginia all the way."
The Nittany Lions are 7.5-point favorites against the Mountaineers, but that didn't stop a good portion of the "College GameDay" crew from picking WVU, including Saban, Desmond Howard and Pat McAfee, who played for West Virginia.
Penn State is returning its starting quarterback, Drew Allar, who recorded 2,631 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and only two interceptions in 2023.
Although they didn't have as good of a record in 2023 as Penn State, West Virginia (9-4) finished the season on a high note with a 30-10 win over the UNC Tarheels in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
Penn State also got the best of West Virginia in last year's season opener in University Park with a 38-15 blowout win. The Mountaineers haven't won a Week 1 game since 2020 against Eastern Kentucky.
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