MORGANTOWN — Quarterback Garrett Green’s dream season got off to a nightmare start Saturday as Penn State continued its century-long dominance with a 34-12 victory over West Virginia. A crowd of 62,084 fans marred the day with an unexpected storm that included thunder, lightning and rain. But the storm paled in comparison to the devastation the Nittany Lions’ offense and defense inflicted on the Mountaineers.
At the center of it all, of course, was Green. He was the centerpiece of West Virginia’s prospects this year, highly anticipated by the school’s coaches and PR staff, and on Davey O’Brien’s watch list as the top quarterback in the nation, as well as the Heisman Trophy watch list.
Neal Brown hailed him as the most underrated player in America, a sentiment that former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer echoed on air.
But with hype comes expectations, and Green failed to live up to them.
As a quarterback, he’s the focal point of an offense that’s expected to blossom this season, but Penn State’s defense and some really shoddy offensive play from veterans, including Green, have left Neal Brown searching for answers.
The Mountaineers only gained 246 total yards in the game while Penn State had 457. In third grade math, that works out to 211 yards for the Mountaineers.
The rushing attack, which averaged 266 yards per game at home last season, managed just 85 yards and the Mountaineers were held to just 161 yards passing.
Green’s main goal this offseason was to improve his passing percentage, which was 53 percent last year. He completed 54 percent of his passes in this game.
There were two snapping errors early in the game: one was a poorly timed snap by new center Brandon Yates that Green took responsibility for, and the other was a loose ball that slipped off Green’s hand for a 19-yard loss.
“It was my first real match against Yates.” Greene noted that Yates played center during last year’s bowl game win over North Carolina. “The timing was wrong, so it’s my fault.”
The quarterback sneaked when just a yard was needed, but Green couldn’t get there.
It was close, and Brown was concerned about ball location, but the stat sheet recorded the fourth-down attempt as a failure.
“I think I understand that, but obviously it’s not my decision to make.” Greene said of the play:
Brown is lagging behind Green despite a disappointing 2024 debut.
“I believe in that kid.” He said. “I have all the faith in him. He will come back and the next time he steps onto a stage like this he will play even better football.”
He’d better try, because the next time he steps on a stage like this is two weeks later, at home against Albany, in what is shaping up to be a repeat of the Backyard Brawl in Pittsburgh and the best game of the season.
He needs to complete 15 of 28 passes for 161 yards and no touchdowns and rush 10 times for at least five total yards.
Those numbers falling below the levels he hit last season are likely more down to Penn State than anything he did.
“They’re a talented football team.” Green acknowledged. “They’re really good from top to bottom. There’s a reason they’re one of the top teams in the country. They have really good players and we just didn’t perform nearly enough today.”
It also didn’t help that left tackle Wyatt Milam had severe cramps in the first half and didn’t play the second half, especially with talented pass rusher Abdul Carter rushing from that wing.
“Wyatt did a great job when he was there.” Green said. “He’s the best left tackle in America, no question about that. It’s definitely going to be tough when he’s not there.”
But the mistakes didn’t come from Milam’s absence, and WVU is now being forced into some soul-searching.
“It’s up to the leaders to steer the team in the right direction and make sure everybody understands our goal is still in front of us, which is to play in Dallas (the Big 12 championship game). It’s up to us to motivate the players.” Green said.
But he wasn’t about to step into the role anytime soon.
“I don’t think now is the time or place to do that.” He said, “I’m not going to panic. I know we didn’t execute well enough. I know we didn’t play well enough to beat a team like that. So now we’re going to get ready for Albany.”
“Losing always sucks. There’s no other way to put it.”
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