Penn State QB Drew Allar hasn’t had a lot go wrong in his brief time as the starter.
His first start was fantastic.
Against West Virginia under the lights at Beaver Stadium, Allar went 21-for-29 for 325 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions in Penn State’s 38-15 win.
The next week against Delaware, Allar went an efficient 22-for-26 in Penn State’s 63-7 win, not passing for a touchdown but not throwing any interceptions and rushing for a score. Today’s game against Illinois presented a different type of challenge. Allar was on the road for the first time since he became the starter, and starting against a Big Ten opponent for the first time in any venue.
Drew Allar ended the afternoon going 16 of 33 for 208 yards, again ending with no touchdowns or interceptions. It was an up-and-down day for the 19-year-old. There were some bright spots, such as Allar’s 33-yard dime to Liam Clifford in the last minute of the first half that set up a last-second Tyler Felkins field goal that sent Penn State to the break up 16-7. There were also some unfortunate moments that weren’t Allar’s fault, such as two drops by Malik McClain, who was starting in place of Harrison “Trey” Wallace III.
But Allar ended the day with more incompletions (17) than he had in the first two games put together (12).
Regardless of what Allar did or didn’t do, Penn State beat Illinois, 30-13. Now, it’s onto Iowa. Iowa will be the first ranked team Allar’s started against, and it will be under White Out conditions in Beaver Stadium.
We’ll talk a lot about Iowa, but before that, how would you grade Drew Allar’s performance against Illinois?
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Fred Lowe
September 16, 2023 at 9:19 pm
Very concerned about how the offensive line is not able to stay on their blocks to keep any lanes open for the running game. Receivers are not getting separation and the lack of mobility from Allar is not helping. They need to improve dramatically if they have any chances of beating Ohio State and Michigan. With more efforts like this, this team could lose to Iowa and others. Hoping this is not going to be the norm.