Gameday Primer: No. 8 Penn State hosts Bowling Green

Bowling Green (1-0) at Penn State (1-0)
When: Saturday, September 7 at 12:00 p.m.
Where: Beaver Stadium
Watch: Big Ten Network
Radio: See Penn State Radio Network
Follow Along: Nittany Nation Twitter Feed
Betting Line: Penn State -32

Things to Watch…
“Chess not checkers” were Christian Hackenberg’s words last week on Nittany Nation Gameday about Penn State’s likely approach against West Virginia. Is that what we saw? Who knows. New offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki seemingly pulled out a lot of stops as Penn State threw a lot at the Mountaineers. It’s hard to imagine Penn State has more tricks up its sleeve, but Beau Pribula, who spent a lot of time in the West Virginia win sharing the field with Drew Allar seems to be a factor in the offensive game plan moving forward.

“I’m not sure what he has up his sleeve,” said Pribula, who took 20 snaps in the win. “I know he’s experienced with doing a lot of different stuff. And so I think the next step is really just continuing to develop and being able to do everything that he asks me to do. Whether that’s lining up at running back, receiver, quarterback, whatever that is, just trying to get good at all those areas, because I’m going to be asked to do things like that, like you saw in the past game.”

Penn State shouldn’t be graded this week by a final score, but the eye test. The team received its flowers after beating West Virginia and expectations nationally seem to be swelling. On Saturday the question isn’t likely if the Nittany Lions win, but by how much to they beat Bowling Green by? Penn State earned a ton of good will with fans in Morgantown, but could lose it all if it doesn’t easily handle business. Penn State is 30-3 all-time against MAC teams, their last loss came in 2012.

My eyes, will be on no. 3. So much has been talked about Julian Fleming this summer. His highly anticipated debut didn’t glow on paper. The senior Ohio State transfer didn’t see a single target in the win. Though his 35 snaps tied Trey Wallace for the most among receivers, many of those snaps came on running plays. With a lesser opponent Saturday, Fleming should have an opportunity to earn a rapport with Penn State’s passers.

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