Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1530530
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 5 3 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Still, the interceptions were costly. Among the most notable of Allar's misses, a second-and-10 throw launched from inside his own 5-yard line resulted in a pick by Dontae Manning that was re- turned to the 1-yard line. The ball had been thrown well behind redshirt junior tight end Khalil Dinkins, and Oregon's of- fense quickly converted the turnover into a touchdown, giving Oregon a 28-10 lead with 10:05 to play in the first half. In the third quarter, an overcooked flick to a wide-open Tyler Warren fell incom- plete when the senior tight end couldn't get control of the ball. Having missed an opportunity to tie the score with a likely touchdown on the play, Penn State called on redshirt freshman kicker Ryan Barker to salvage the drive with a field goal, but his attempt sailed wide right. Then came the sec- ond pick. On second- and-1, Allar looked deep for redshirt ju- nior receiver Harrison "Trey" Wallace III, who was streaking down the right side- line, but Nikko Reed was side-by-side with Wallace and turned his head around just in time to intercept the pass. With just under two minutes to play and the Ducks leading by eight, Reed's pick ended PSU's comeback hopes and delivered Or- egon the Big Ten championship. Franklin later acknowledged that Reed had made "a heck of a play," but Allar took ownership of the turnover, explaining that he had seen the cornerback alone with Wallace on the sideline and took a shot. "I saw [safety Tysheem Johnson] hold and not get any depth and I tried to give Trey a chance," he said. "I've got to do a better job of [getting it to] him or nobody. I've just got to see the leverage with the DB and give him more of a back shoulder, around the body where it's going to be him or nobody and move on in the progression. But that's what I saw in that play." The extreme highs and lows of Allar's performance against Oregon left Franklin feeling optimistic for what's still ahead for Allar. "I'm very, very pleased with his overall development, his maturity, his leader- ship," the coach said. "He made some huge plays to keep us in this thing and continues to do a great job of distributing the ball to our playmakers, and also manage our run game. We put a lot on the quarterback at the line of scrimmage, and he does a really good job of managing all those things." Thinking About The Future Leading into Penn State's first College Football Playoff appearance, Allar has as- serted himself as one of the game's top quarterbacks. He's completed 224 of 324 passes for 2,894 yards this season, with 21 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. His ESPN QBR of 81.6 is 10th nationally, and his completion percentage is substantially higher than it was a year ago, rising from 59.9 in 2023 to 69.1 through Penn State's first 13 games this year. With his performance in Indianapolis, Allar moved into a tie with Tony Sacca for sixth place in program history in career passing yards (5,869), and he's now third in career touchdown passes (50). In ad- dition, his career completion percentage of 63.6 is the highest in PSU history for a starting quarterback. Even with Penn State set to host the CFP's No. 11 seed, SMU, the questions surrounding Allar aren't limited to the here and now. One of the program's big- gest unknowns is whether he will be the Nittany Lions' starting quarterback in 2025. As of mid-December, Allar had not yet publicly stated whether he intends to return to Penn State next season. In an interview with BWI last summer, he acknowledged that he had "definitely thought about" whether he might want to use his fourth and final season of eli- gibility or move on to the NFL. However, his priority at the time was to help Penn State reach its goals, and that's still the case with the Mustangs set to visit Beaver Stadium on Dec. 21. Having watched Allar's development the past three years, including two sea- sons as PSU's starter, Franklin is eager to see what comes next. "I think from Year 1 to Year 2, he's made a significant jump," the coach said. "And the scary thing and the exciting thing is that I still think there's a ton of develop- ment left in him." ■ Drew Allar Game-By-Game Opponent Comp. Att. Pct. Yds. TD Int. Long Rush Yds. TD Long at West Virginia 11 17 64.7 216 3 0 55 6 44 0 15 Bowling Green 13 20 65.0 204 2 1 30 7 7 1 14 Kent State 17 21 81.0 309 3 0 59 5 26 1 10 Illinois 15 21 71.4 135 0 0 20 4 15 0 11 UCLA 17 24 70.8 237 1 0 57 4 -3 1 3 at USC 30 43 69.8 391 2 3 34 4 32 0 19 at Wisconsin 14 18 77.8 148 1 0 27 4 8 0 8 Ohio State 12 20 60.0 146 0 1 31 10 31 0 14 Washington 20 28 71.4 220 1 0 28 3 12 0 6 at Purdue 17 19 89.5 247 3 0 46 4 22 0 14 at Minnesota 21 28 75.0 244 1 0 45 9 8 1 8 Maryland 17 26 65.4 171 1 0 24 7 23 1 7 vs. Oregon 20 39 51.3 226 3 2 28 5 54 1 22 Totals 224 324 69.1 2,894 21 7 59 72 279 6 22