MADISON, Wis. — Penn State quarterback Drew Allar grimaced in pain as he was sacked on the final drive of the first half in the Nittany Lions’ 28-13 win at Wisconsin on Saturday. After staying on for two more plays, he walked gingerly to the locker room before the halftime whistle was blown. Allar’s day was done, and he was replaced by backup Beau Pribula.
Allar wore a brace on his left knee as he returned from the tunnel after halftime, which could provide some hints as to the specifics of his injury. What remains unclear is the severity and whether coach James Franklin will be given the green light to play him in Penn State’s consequential meeting with No. 4 Ohio State next weekend.
“I just asked him to be very, very honest with me, and he just didn’t feel like he was going to be able to move well enough to go,” Franklin said postgame. “Even at the end of the half, you saw, even throwing was challenging.”
Franklin said he initially believed Allar would be able to play in the second half. But after some warmup throws prior to the start of the third quarter, Allar notified Franklin that he couldn’t go. Allar then removed the knee brace he wore out of the tunnel, aggressively picked up a towel from the bench and put it over his head for the rest of the game.
There was one question Franklin considered surrounding Allar’s availability, an answer for which he received just a few warmup throws after the break, that could also point to the specifics of his injury.
“Is he going to be mobile enough to give us a chance to run the offense the way we need to run the offense?” Franklin recounted.
As for Allar’s status moving forward, Franklin said he doesn’t have a “whole lot of information.” Allar, who had completed a stellar 14-of-18 pass attempts for 148 yards and a touchdown before the injury, would obviously provide a major boost if he’s able to play against the Buckeyes — his home state team.
But if Allar’s unable to play, Pribula, who impressed in his own right in the win over the Badgers by completing 11-of-13 pass attempts for 98 yards and a touchdown, would almost certainly get the starting nod against the Buckeyes.
“Everybody’s already, I think, going to put this one behind us pretty fast, because we know the stakes of this game,” Pribula said of the Ohio State game. “We’re going to prepare just like every other week, but I think the guys are going to be super locked in this week. … Experience like this is only going to help.”
