So much for Penn State’s strength of schedule in the non-conference slate. What was supposed to be a fun revival of an old rivalry from the days before Penn State’s Big Ten era will still be fun to see play out when the 2023 season kicks off in primetime on a brand new media partner, but it looks as though the level of competition won’t be as stingy as it was hoped when this game was originally announced.
The Big 12 media preseason poll was released on Thursday, and Penn State’s season-opening opponent was picked to finish in last place in the 14-team conference. West Virginia received just 129 points in the Big 12 preseason media poll, significantly lower than Big 12 newcomers Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, and BYU. West Virginia was the only school to receive fewer than 200 points from the Big 12 media poll voters.
Big 12 Media Preseason Poll
1. Texas (41), 886
2. Kansas State (14), 858
3. Oklahoma (4), 758
4. Texas Tech (4), 729
5. TCU (3), 727
6. Baylor, 572
7. Oklahoma State (1), 470
8. UCF, 463
9. Kansas, 461
10. ISU, 334
11. BYU, 318
12. Houston, 215
13. Cincinnati, 202
14. WVU, 129— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) July 6, 2023
The Texas Longhorns ran away with the top spot in the preseason poll, receiving 41 first-place votes to pull away from last year’s conference champion Kansas State.
Penn State has not faced West Virginia since 1992, the last season in which Penn State was an independent program before joining the Big Ten in 1993 (West Virginia was a founding member of the Big East’s football lineup).
Penn State’s season opener against West Virginia is scheduled for Saturday, September 2 at 7:30 p.m. The game will air on NBC for the first Big Ten primetime game on the network as part of the new media rights deal with the Big Ten.
And by the looks of things, it looks like Penn State should be well on its way to celebrating a comfortable win over the Mountaineers.
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