Penn State rewind: Explaining the Lions’ first quarter fumble, the two point try, and more

Morgantown — Penn State made a statement here on Saturday afternoon: The Lions believe they can do big things in 2024, and showed the college football world how they can do them on Saturday. Head coach James Franklin’s team was explosive on offense, sound on defense, and did enough on special teams to leave with a 34-12 win over West Virginia .

“I think we got a chance to be good on both sides of the ball,” Franklin said. “I think we got a chance to be more balanced on both sides of the ball. When I talk about balance. I’m talking about, you know, both being able to win on the defense side of the ball, being able to win on the offensive side of the ball. And I thought there were examples of that today.”

Here are some final thoughts from the Lions’ first win of the year.

Revisiting that first quarter fumble

Penn State survived Drew Allar’s first quarter fumble because the defense forced one a play later. However, the play is still worth revisiting for a couple of reasons. The first is to explain what happened. It was obvious that center Nick Dawkins and the rest of the Nittany Lions’ line was ready. The other members of the offense, however, were not. It led to the junior mishandling the snap before WVU fell on it.

It looked awkward, and it was. But, it wasn’t because Allar and Dawkins were not on the same page, both said. Instead, each pointed out that a West Virginia defender double clapped, mimicking Allar’s signal to snap the ball. Allar had not yet clapped. But, Dawkins thought he did, and thus snapped it. Allar was animated with the head referee after, and with good reason, since it’s a penalty if done intentionally.

“I heard it clear as day,” Allar said. “Obviously, I knew I didn’t clap. And then I saw the whole right side of the line really, obviously Dawk heard it because he snapped the ball. But the whole, it wasn’t just Dawk, it was like, the whole offensive line heard it. And I was like, I heard a clap. Obviously I have to tell the ref that I can’t let that slide, because that’s going to be like, a disadvantage for us all day. But honestly, I probably should have kept my cool a little bit more in that moment.”

Maybe Allar should have. But, conversely, it showed the voice he’s developed as an on-field leader. And, the Nittany Lions need that out of him this fall.

Why did the Lions go for two after their first score?

Penn State went for two instead of kicking an extra point after Allar’s 50-yard touchdown toss to Harrison “Trey” Wallace III opened up the scoring. It was an unconventional move and a new one for the Nittany Lions, who had not done that before in the James Frankin era. Some will surely disagree with the decision. But, there was a rhyme to the reason, according to Franklin: Getting Beau Pribula involved.

“Beau’s going to have a big part of the game plan,” Franklin said. “That was a big part of our thought of starting with a two-point play to get him involved as early as possible in the game. Plus we had a play that we liked. It didn’t, it didn’t obviously pan out, but Beau is going to be a big part of what we’re doing moving forward, so we wanted to get him involved as early as possible.”

At the very least, it puts other teams on notice that Pribula can and will throw, even if he’s mostly used as a running threat.

Final thought quick hitters

–Franklin said throughout August that Wallace III had risen to the top of the receivers room along with Liam Clifford . The former showed up and showed out but the latter did not even have a target. We’ll see what Week 2 brings for the veteran receiver.

— Abdul Carter was more productive than his number of penalties indicate. But, it goes without saying that he needs to slow down and should now that his first week at his new position is out of the way.

–Penn State might have a kicker problem. Sander Sahaydak didn’t have an easy kick. But, he still missed it, which is a career theme. And, if no one can beat him out, that probably doesn’t say a lot of good things about the program’s situation at that position.

–Are big plays back? Or was the West Virginia defense just leaky? Time will tell. But Saturday was about as good of a start as the Lions could have hoped for in that department.

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