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Penn State-West Virginia resumes after a weather delay that lasted 2 hours and 19 minutes

Greg Pickelby: Greg Pickel08/31/24GregPickel
LightningCrashes
Lightning warning, game suspended, at West Virginia

Morgantown — Penn State’s season opener at West Virginia will take longer than expected to complete. Meteorologists and weather forecasting websites warned all week leading up to the Noon ET kickoff that bad weather was a possibility on a muggy day here. At halftime, their fears were realized. The non-conference contest entered a weather delay at 2:04 p.m. ET. Lightning in the area of the field was the cause of it. As of 2:10, rain is now falling, but the sky has darkened. And, radar indicates that a nasty line of thunderstorms are approaching. Both teams stayed in their locker rooms. Fans were asked to shelter on the concourse at Milan Puskar Stadium or return to their cars. It’s unclear how long the delay will last.

When the delay started, head coach James Franklin’s team led the Mountaineers 20-6.

4:23 p.m. — The game is back underway.

3:58 p.m. — Without any more lightning, the game will resume at 4:23 p.m. ET after warmups at 4:08 p.m.

3:54 p.m. ET update: The latest from Morgantown: A resumption of play meeting will be held at 4 p.m. ET with an update to follow on the plan for the Penn State-West Virginia second half.

3:40 p.m. ET update: Plans were set to restart the game at 4:05 p.m. But, right after that was announced, another lightning strike flashed here and reset the 30-minute clock. There is no longer a tentative start time.

3:05 p.m. ET update: Officials here in Morgantown have not yet met to decide when to resume Penn State-West Virginia due to lightning still being in the area.

2:30 p.m. ET update: The countdown clock to clear the field for play cannot start for at least 30 minutes. So, expect the next update at 3 p.m. ET.

Penn State builds a quick lead

The Nittany Lions did not play a perfectly clean first half. But, they did enough to build a comfortable lead. After A 50-yard scoring strike from quarterback Drew Allar to receiver Harrison “Trey” Wallace III opened the scoring seconds into the second quarter. Runnign back Kaytron Allen would later take an Allar pass 13 yards for a score, and the visitors capped off the opening 30 minutes by completing a three-play, 73-yard scoring drive capped by an Allar’s second touchdown toss to Wallace III. That one went for 18 yards. Allar, with three touchdown passses in the second quarter, became the first Penn State passer to do that since Trace McSorley in 2016.

Between the Lions’ scores, West Virginia kicked a pair of field goals as the Lions’ defense held firm twice deep in its own territory. Allar is 8 of 13 for 199 yards and three touchdowns at the half. Wallace III has five catches for 117 yards and the two touchdowns. Safeties Jaylen Reed and KJ Winston Jr., lead all tacklers with eight a piece. PSU has a 248 to 163 yards advantage.

“Well, early on and we just didn’t get in rhythm, whether it was penalties or whether it was fumbled snaps and things like that,” Franklin told FOX’s Jenny Taft. “Once we got them calmed down, I thought we did some really good things.”

“Yeah, offensively, we got to sustain some drives, and I’m saying that to help our defense out,” Franklin said. “And then we got to get some three and outs on defense to get them off the field. They did a good job sustaining some drives, and that obviously right before the half was big. I’ve been saying since the 90s: ducks accepted, spirals preferred, but we’ll take a duck anytime.”

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