QB Drew Allar Not To Blame for Penn State’s Offensive Woes, Says Joel Klatt

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] a large receiver corps proper now that continues, even with completely different gamers in a rebuilt roster, to be an underperforming unit,” Klatt mentioned. “I do not care who catches the soccer, and neither does Drew. This is what a quarterback cares about: photos. Are they clear? Are they on time? Do you create? Invoice Belichick as soon as mentioned there’s solely two issues he actually cares about with a large receiver: are you able to create separation, and do you catch the ball proper? I’d add a 3rd. Are you on time and creating separation? 

“This is what I am seeing with Penn State’s extensive receivers. They don’t get open. They don’t run with urgency. The velocity with which they play is a notch too sluggish. They can not get off bump protection, in order that they’re jammed always on the line of scrimmage, if that is the approach that the protection is enjoying. Thus, the image is late. Thus, Allar’s acquired nowhere to throw the soccer, after which he is acquired to flee the move rush, which is usually in his lap as a result of the offensive line is underperforming.”

Kyron Hudson leads Penn State in receiving with 208 yards via 5 video games. (Picture by Scott Taetsch/Getty Photographs)

In fact, with Penn State giving up 42 factors to a UCLA group that was 134th in scoring coming into Saturday’s recreation, the protection is not accountable, both. Including to UCLA’s level whole, the Bruins both scored or acquired the ball into enemy territory on eight of their first 9 possessions, placing up 446 yards of whole offense. 

Penn State had three sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss, but it surely additionally had 12 missed tackles, which was 3 times as many as UCLA had in Saturday’s recreation, per Professional Soccer Focus.

“They did not deal with effectively in area,” Klatt mentioned. “They did not play effectively with their defensive position. Their defensive backs didn’t play bodily.”

Penn State’s poor exhibiting is arguably the largest upset college football has seen not too long ago and has even led to questioning head coach James Franklin’s job. Klatt is not positive about that but, but it surely’s clear that he has loads to repair. 

“It is drafting board time for the Penn State Nittany Lions,” Klatt mentioned. “The elephant within the room, clearly, goes to be Coach Franklin and everybody speaking about his job. This is the deal. He is not going to be frightened about that proper now, as a result of what he will be frightened about is all of the [problems I pointed out]. 

“In the end — and he is aware of this, he even mentioned so on the finish of the day — he will be accountable for fixing all these issues.”

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