Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1526526
O C T O B E R 2 0 2 4 2 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M second season at the helm of the Nit- tany Lions' offense. In his first game orchestrating coordinator Andy Kotel- nicki's scheme, he completed 11 of 17 passes for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns at Milan Puskar Stadium, guiding the Lions to a lead they wouldn't relin- quish. He added another 44 yards on 6 carries, picking up first downs on four of those runs. Allar's beautifully thrown 50-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass to red- shirt junior receiver Harrison Wallace III marked an explosive start to the Penn State passing game for the year, and his 55-yard bomb to junior wideout Omari Evans on the Nittany Lions' final posses- sion of the first half definitively turned the course of the game. The completion to Evans set the stage for Allar's second scoring strike to Wallace, a perfectly placed ball toward the end zone sideline that left the hosts demoralized just ahead of a 2-hour, 19-minute weather delay at the half. At the end of the first full weekend of college football, Allar's ESPN-specific QB rating of 98.3 was second only to Alabama's Jalen Milroe. Importantly, Milroe's initial effort of the 2024 season resulted in a 63-0 destruction of West- ern Kentucky. Allar, meanwhile, did his damage on the road against a West Vir- ginia team that is eager to make a mark on the national landscape this season and had been looking to avenge a loss to PSU at Beaver Stadium last year. Confidence Is Earned Allar's excellent stats on opening day told only part of the story. In addition to strafing the Mountaineer secondary, he exhibited a persona often unseen dur- ing his first season as the Nittany Lions' starter. It was the eye-catching oomph of a player building confidence. In the fourth quarter, Allar stiff-armed West Virginia linebacker Josiah Trotter in one of the game's signature moments, lunging for extra yardage as Trotter fell to the turf. It was another indication of the junior quarterback's mindset this year under the offensive leadership of Ko- telnicki and quarterbacks coach Danny O'Brien. Allar said during the offseason that he was intent on being "the ther- mostat versus the thermometer," and on that play he certainly raised the tem- perature. "I'm going to be out there and be vo- cal. I feel like I've done a better job of that, even from the spring, of being more vocal and taking more ownership," Allar said prior to the start of the 2024 season. "I think it really comes from the com- fort level I have in the offense right now. And just Coach K and Danny and Coach Franklin really handing me the keys and allowing me to be myself. "I feel like that's the biggest difference that I've intentionally made. It's just be- ing more of myself and being more open and just being who I've always been." Penn State spent the offseason invest- ing thoroughly in Allar's development, and the initial dividends of that effort were returned in Morgantown. To Franklin's point, the successes and difficulties of Allar's roller-coaster sophomore season helped create the conditions in which that growth could occur. And, in every sense, Franklin at- tested to the various ways that it did. "It's Year 2 for him as the starting quarterback, Year 3 in the program," Franklin said. "He shouldn't look the same, shouldn't behave the same. There should be growth. There should be more confidence and more swagger, because he's earned that. "Confidence is something you earn. It's not something that you give. It's something you've earned. He's worked really hard. You see it in his play." More Work Ahead Allar carried plenty of momentum from Week 1 into the Nittany Lions' home opener against Bowling Green the following Saturday. A heavy favorite "I want to be the guy that sets the tone offensively. I want to show emotion and passion for the game, but I'm never going to dip down. I'm going to be steady the whole time, but I'm definitely going to celebrate when things do go our way." A L L A R Allar completed 11 of 17 passes for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns in Penn State's 34-12 victory at West Virginia. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL