Penn State has a lot of problems after losing its second straight game, but quarterback Drew Allar isn’t one of them.
FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt came to the defense of the 21-year-old signal-caller following PSU’s 42-37 upset loss to UCLA on Saturday, saying that he was “the best Nittany Lion” on the field in that game.
“He was … the only reason that Penn State had a chance to win that football game in the first place, and that’s even being in an offense and trying to execute a scheme that he’s not necessarily fit to execute,” Klatt said on his podcast, “The Joel Klatt Show.” “That dude plays hard. Now, that’s not enough, and I’m not suggesting he was perfect, either.
“I don’t want to get the two conflated, because no one played great for Penn State, but he was certainly the reason that they were in that game, and I believe that the criticism coming his way is not appropriate.”
Statistically, Allar had a strong game against UCLA. He completed 19 of 26 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns, adding 78 yards on the ground. However, it took a while for him and Penn State’s offense to get going. The Nittany Lions recorded just 92 yards of total offense in the first half, putting them in a 27-7 hole at halftime.
Penn State’s first-half struggles on offense against UCLA highlights one of the problems the Nittany Lions have, according to Klatt, as they only recorded 68 total yards of offense in the first half of their loss to Oregon a week prior.
“When you look at the last two weeks and you look at what the game plan was — I’m talking about base downs, first half, what they spent their entire week in preparation getting ready to do — it has not worked,” Klatt said. “It didn’t work against Oregon in the first half, and it certainly didn’t work against UCLA. … You can’t just chalk this up to, ‘Well, they weren’t ready to play.’
“I will just tell you that something in the plan is not working, because you can prepare yourself schematically for success.”
Following Penn State’s loss to Oregon, Klatt said that its coaching staff had to adjust its offensive scheme to better fit Allar’s profile as a strong downfield passer rather than forcing him to make throws in the quick game.
But that didn’t happen, and that could be because of the surrounding personnel.
“He was playing outside the X’s and O’s several times just in order to get the team to where it was, scrambling for first downs because the offensive line played very poorly,” Klatt said. “They didn’t run the ball well. The wide receivers are not playing well.”
Allar was only sacked once Saturday, but the ground game has struggled to get going for Penn State when it needed it to. Running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton combined for 89 yards on 19 carries against UCLA after rushing for 75 yards on 23 combined carries against Oregon. That’s certainly an underwhelming number for a duo that many thought was one of the best running back tandems in recent memory. Additionally, Allar was taken down in the backfield on a designed run on a fourth-and-2 as Penn State was trying to tie the game.
Klatt’s biggest gripe was with Penn State’s wide receivers, though, saying that their issues go beyond the stats.
“[Allar is] looking at a wide receiver corps right now that continues, even with different players in a rebuilt roster, to be an underperforming unit,” Klatt said. “I don’t care who catches the football, and neither does Drew. Here’s what a quarterback cares about: pictures. Are they clean? Are they on time? Do you create? Bill Belichick once said there’s only two things he really cares about with a wide receiver: can you create separation, and do you catch the ball right? I would add a third. Are you on time and creating separation?
“Here’s what I’m seeing with Penn State’s wide receivers. They do not get open. They do not run with urgency. The speed with which they play is a notch too slow. They cannot get off bump coverage, so they’re jammed constantly at the line of scrimmage, if that’s the technique that the defense is playing. Thus, the picture is late. Thus, Allar’s got nowhere to throw the football, and then he’s got to escape the pass rush, which is generally in his lap because the offensive line is underperforming.”
Kyron Hudson leads Penn State in receiving with 208 yards through five games. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Of course, with Penn State giving up 42 points to a UCLA team that was 134th in scoring entering Saturday’s game, the defense isn’t to blame, either. Adding to UCLA’s point total, the Bruins either scored or got the ball into enemy territory on eight of their first nine possessions, putting up 446 yards of total offense.
Penn State had three sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss, but it also had 12 missed tackles, which was three times as many as UCLA had in Saturday’s game, per Pro Football Focus.
“They didn’t tackle well in space,” Klatt said. “They didn’t play well with their defensive line. Their defensive backs did not play physical.”
Penn State’s poor showing is arguably the biggest upset college football has seen recently and has even led to questioning head coach James Franklin’s job. Klatt isn’t sure about that yet, but it’s clear that he has a lot to fix.
“It’s drawing board time for the Penn State Nittany Lions,” Klatt said. “The elephant in the room, obviously, is going to be Coach Franklin and everyone talking about his job. Here’s the deal. He’s not going to be worried about that right now, because what he’s going to be worried about is all the [problems I pointed out].
“Ultimately — and he knows this, he even said so at the end of the day — he’s going to be responsible for fixing all those things.”
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