Sep 2, 2011 5 min read

Penn State and West Virginia can look forward to better football seasons this year than they had in 2010.

Pitt?

Who knows?

While Joe Paterno will be back for his 46th season with the Nittany Lions, the other two squads have new faces on the sidelines.

No matter who’s coaching, all three of those teams will charge into action this weekend as heavy favorites.

The Nittany Lions will be the first to kick things off when they host Indiana State at noon on Saturday.

Later in the day, the Panthers take on Buffalo at Heinz Field beginning at 6 p.m.

The Mountaineers start their campaign with a 3:30 p.m. Sunday special against Marshall in Morgantown.

All three teams are pretty much guaranteed to start the season 1-0. The question is what will happen the rest of the way?

While West Virginia and Pitt both have new coaches, the change will be more drastic for the Panthers, who are switching from Dave Wannstedt’s pro-style offense to Todd Graham’s no-huddle, “high-octane” attack.

Graham’s frantic offense will be in the hands of quarterback Tino Sunseri. That could be asking a lot of a guy who struggled running Wannstedt’s less intricate offense last year.

Sunseri will have most of his success when he’s handing the ball off to talented running back Ray Graham, who would flourish in any offense and should have a huge year. Otherwise, however, it’d be surprising if Pitt doesn’t hit some bumps and potholes in 2011 with such a completely different mindset when it comes to moving the ball.

Pitt is well-stocked on defense, although, again, the players will have to adjust to a new system installed by coach Graham. That could lead to some key missed assignments.

Pitt follows up Buffalo with a home game against Maine, but then the non-conference schedule offers up a trip to Iowa and a clash with Notre Dame at Heinz Field before Big East play begins. The Panthers also host Utah on Oct. 15.

With Graham in charge now, Pitt is tough to figure for this season. The consensus is they’ll finish second in the conference.

Maybe. Let’s say 7-5 overall and 5-2 in the Big East.

West Virginia won’t have as much trouble adjusting to new coach Dana Holgorsen as Pitt will to Graham. Sure, Holgorsen favors a no-huddle attack, too, but something was needed to inject some life into what was a very disappointing and sometimes inept offense by the Mountaineers in 2010.

It wasn’t that long ago that Rich Rodriguez was running a no-huddle, spread offense in Morgantown, so Holgorsen should have an easier time putting in and running his sets effectively.

Plus, quarterback Geno Smith returns after a strong statistical season in 2010, although his impressive numbers (24 touchdowns, 7 interceptions and a 64.8 completion percentage) didn’t translate into as many points as they should have under coach Bill Stewart.

Smith said the transition has been smooth and he’s got a good set of receivers, so if West Virginia can find a strong running back out of its stable of runners to spur the ground game, you’ll be looking at the Big East’s highest-scoring offense.

As for defense, what Stewart lacked in offensive ingenuity last year, he made up for with a strong stop-unit. You’d have to go back to the Don Nehlen era to find a WVU defense that was as good, and the Mountaineers should be solid at slowing up opposing offenses again this season.

West Virginia has been made the conference favorite and you’ll get no argument from here. WVU will face its stiffest test on Sept. 24 when it hosts LSU.

Let’s put the Mountaineers at 10-2 overall and 6-1 in the Big East. They’ll upend Pitt to clinch first place and a BCS bowl, then suffer a letdown and lose at South Florida in a tough spot a week later.

At Happy Valley, there is no need to worry about new systems or a coaching change. It’ll be business as usual under Paterno and his staff.

The Big Ten will have a different look, though, having added Nebraska and split into two divisions. The look at quarterback hasn’t cleared up at Penn State either as Paterno failed to pick a clear-cut starter from Rob Bolden and Matt McGloin.

Bolden has much more upside and the Nittany Lions should put him behind center and let him go, but both will play on Saturday and the two may end up splitting time all season.

Penn State has an average offensive line, which might make it hard to establish the running game against the better teams on its schedule. The defense isn’t great, but it’s pretty good and better than last year’s edition.

The Nittany Lions face their toughest challenge next week when Alabama visits Beaver Stadium. That’ll most likely be a loss, but Penn State should hit Big Ten play at 3-1.

A killer closing stretch has Paterno’s squad hosting the Cornhuskers before traveling to Ohio State and Wisconsin.

Let’s put Penn State at 8-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten.

Now let’s run up, boot the ball off the tee and get the season under way.

Rob Burchianti can be reached at rvburchianti@hotmail.com.