Pat McAfee is a West Virginia guy, and Penn State is the team his Mountaineers play Week 1.
So before McAfee gave his thoughts on this year’s Penn State team late Saturday morning, he made sure to remind his College GameDay co-hosts that Penn State’s Week 1 matchup with West Virginia matchup with West Virginia wouldn’t be an easy one.
“They have a tough one opening night,” he said. “You hear me?”
McAfee then paused for several seconds until Desmond Howard started laughing.
Then, McAfee got serious about Penn State.
“They have eight returning starters on offense, eight returning startrs on defense,” he said. “It all comes down to the quarterback with Drew Allar. They had two freshman running backs last year than almost combined for two thousand yards.
So does McAfee see Penn State challenging for the Big Ten championship?
He wouldn’t be surprised.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“They have it all, seemingly, on paper, to make a run,” Pat McAfee said, “it’s not just an Ohio State, Michigan conversation in the Big Ten.”
Although Kirk Herbstreit was once Ohio State’s QB, he’s become a fan favorite amongst Penn Staters for his compliments of the program and its supporters over the years.
So it wasn’t a surprise that Herbstreit is high on Penn State, too.
Pat McAfee on Penn State: “They have it all, seemingly on paper, to make a run.”
Kirk Herbstreit: “I think their defense is going to get back to being nasty.”
— Joe Smeltzer (@joesmeltzer775) August 26, 2023
“There’s Allar,” he said. “Everyone’s excited about what he can do. Highly recruited, actually out of Ohio. There’s (running back) Nicholas Singleton m. They’re loaded. I mean, they’re just loaded, and I think their defense is going to get back to being nasty. They have guys that can rush the quarterback, so I’m with you.”
Penn State will prove people right or wrong soon enough. The season begins next Saturday, Sept.1, against West Virginia under the Beaver Stadium lights on NBC. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30.
