Penn State is favored over West Virginia and, barring a calamity, will be until kickoff, which is scheduled for noon Saturday, Aug. 31 in Morgantown but the odds, they are a-changin’.
For months, Penn State was a double-digit favorite over WVU, and last season, it was a three-touchdown favorite.
Now, the Penn State-WVU odds are down to single-digits.
While Penn State is still the clear favorite, the line has experienced significant movement since opening with WVU as a 12-point underdog. DraftKings currently has Penn State as only an 8.5-point favorite, steadily ticking down from earlier in the week.
Another interesting move on the Week 1 CFB Friday card on @DKSportsbook:
– Stanford from +8.5 to +9.5 as a home dog to TCU despite Stanford having 70% of the money on 35% of the bets.
– WVU also ticked down to +8.5 from the game below. https://t.co/VncayueaCs
— Julian Edlow (@julianedlow) August 22, 2024
The line moved from 10 to nine Wednesday ago but has now dropped once again. And despite most in the national media are picking Penn State to beat the Mountaineers, they are expecting a more competitive game than when the two programs kicked off the 2023 season in State College.
As part of Fox Sports promoting opening the 2024 season as Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff game, Joel Klatt joined “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” to preview the game Wednesday.
After Cowherd started talking about Penn State’s situation in the expanded Big Ten, Klatt jumped in with some cautionary words about looking past the Mountaineers.
“That is a tough game, cause West Virginia got on a hot streak late last year. They got some good players and that environment is going to be incredible. Can’t wait for Country Roads,” said Klatt.
And no matter what anyone in the media says, Penn State head coach James Franklin knows the situation his team will be facing when it opens the season at WVU.
“It’s a hornet’s nest,” said Franklin when asked about starting the season on the road against West Virginia at Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday.
“They take a lot of pride in their football team. They’ve got no pro team, so it’s all about West Virginia, all about Morgantown. So it will be a great environment to play in.”
There’s also intrigue and some storyline carryover from the 2023 edition. In addition to the 2023 game marking the first the time two historic programs faced off in decades, the night ended with some controversy.
Despite being up by two scores, Franklin decided to try to get another touchdown rather than take a knee, and Penn State succeeded, scoring with six seconds left. Brown didn’t like that too much.
“I wouldn’t have done it,” Brown said in his postgame presser. “But it doesn’t bother me. Stuff like that comes back around.”
After a 9-4 (6-3) season and a Duke’s Mayo Bowl victory, West Virginia is hungry to start off the 2024 season by getting revenge on Franklin and Penn State. Penn State proved the odds right beat WVU in the 2023 season opener at Beaver Stadium 38-15 before finishing the year at 10-3.
Part of this story initially appeared on our partner site WV Sports Now.
