MIAMI — Drew Allar left the field in tears. He was devastated. The most critical moment of Allar’s football career to date squandered by his most costly mistake. His fourth-quarter interception in Penn State’s 27-24 loss to Notre Dame won’t soon be forgotten — for all the wrong reasons.
Allar was hoping to complete his first pass to a wide receiver. But, in following the rest of Thursday’s Orange Bowl for Penn State, none were open. So, he attempted to throw it away at the feet of Omari Evans. Instead, that ball soared, up and away from Evans, and straight into the hands of Fighting Irish cornerback Christian Gray.
That was the moment Allar’s heart sank. He squatted toward the turf and dropped his head after returning to the sideline. A lifetime had led him to this moment, to a shot at the national championship game. But the former five-star recruit with hopes of becoming an NFL starter ultimately couldn’t get it done when it came time to prove his prestige. Pain.
“We didn’t win the game, so it wasn’t good enough. It’s plain and simple,” a dejected Allar said of his performance. “I’ll learn from it. I’ll do everything in my power to get better from it and just grow from it.”
This was the year Allar was supposed to blossom into a game-changing quarterback. The type of quarterback capable of taking over and leading the Nittany Lions to a title on a game-winning drive with 47 seconds remaining. Allar had done it at USC and Minnesota, marching downfield to either tie or or ice a subsequent victory. But that ability seemingly disappeared against top opponents.
Allar completed 12-of-35 pass attempts for 135 yards against the Fighting Irish. He botched a handful of throws, most notably a three-yard pass to running back Nick Singleton that was too low and behind to confidently catch in stride and, of course, the interception. It all made up what was likely Allar’s worst performance this season, but far from his first blunder against a challenging foe.
In six losses over two seasons as Penn State’s starter, Allar has completed just 91-of-185 pass attempts — a 49.2% clip. He hasn’t surpassed 300 receiving yards in any of those games and has thrown for under 150 in half. James Franklin is often the one who garners the “big game” criticism, but Allar hasn’t found much success in that regard either. Why is that?
Allar’s decision making certainly needs work. He’s more composed than he was a season ago. He’s more athletic and now has the ability to extend drives with his legs. But there’s one area that hasn’t changed or improved from Allar’s first season as a starter to his second: his wide receiver corps. Allar didn’t complete a single reception to a wide receiver in Thursday’s loss.
“We tried a couple early on in the game and weren’t able to convert them in tightly contested coverage. They’re a man coverage team,” Franklin said postgame. “But yeah, that’s a storyline of the game. That’s one of the storylines. I don’t think there’s any doubt about it.”
Storylines. That’s funny. Franklin was just days removed from banging the drum that his wide receivers hadn’t been “talked about enough” by reporters. That the position had turned into a “strength.” Franklin can talk about the value of blocking all he wants, and there’s no denying its importance, but Allar will not succeed the way he’s been expected to if he does not have but one viable wide receiver.
It’s astonishing it’s gone on this long. The most simple statistics — receptions, receiving yards, passing yards, completion percentage — show that Penn State has and has had a significant wide receiver problem for two years. With All-American tight end Tyler Warren headed to the NFL, that’s a concern that won’t be fixed on its own with this current group. Help is needed.
Still, Allar will internalize this loss. This won’t be easy to recover from. The road lasted 16 games, to that point the longest season for any team in the history of college football. And it ended in defeat. In the most demoralizing, deflating, damaging fashion. A mistake in the most critical moment of his life. A national championship berth, gone.
And in Allar’s heart — his broken, sunken heart — it’s all his fault.
“It’s not on him completely. It never is. Planes crash, there’s a bunch of little things that go wrong and that’s what happened on that play,” offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said. “I know he’s gonna beat himself up over it. He shouldn’t have to, but that’s what it is when you’re a competitor when it doesn’t go your way.”
