Drew Allar on his performance vs. Ohio State: 'Sucked'

With first-year starting quarterback Drew Allar running the offense, Penn State went on the road at Ohio State, looking to pull off an upset. That didn’t happen, though, with the Nittany Lions’ inability to sustain success on offense being a huge reason why Penn State struggled.

After the game, Allar met with the media. He was clearly upset as he leaned over the microphone and gave a one-word break down of how he personally felt he played.

“Sucked,” Drew Allar said.

A little later, Allar was asked why he was so harsh on himself. Again, Allar was incredibly blunt in his response.

“Because I did [suck].”

Drew Allar was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He played as a backup and in mop-up duty behind Sean Clifford in 2022. Now, the offense is his in Happy Valley.

For the most part, it’s worked out well for both Allar and Penn State. Allar is incredibly careful with the football and has yet to throw an interception in 283 career passes. However, the Ohio State game was a difficult one for both Allar and that offense. He ended the game with only 18 completions on 42 attempts for 191 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked four times and the Nittany Lions only scored 12 points.

There has been some concern about the lack of downfield passing in the offense with Drew Allar at quarterback. However, it’s hard to tell if those issues creating plays are because of a limitation that Allar or the offense as a whole is dealing with.

No matter the case, Penn State and Drew Allar will need to bounce back quickly against Indiana next week.

James Franklin says Penn State wasn’t able to put Drew Allar in position to be successful vs. Ohio State

After the game, Penn State head coach James Franklin blamed Drew Allar’s struggles against Ohio State on the coaches not putting him in a position to succeed.

“All year long, we’ve called the game and managed the game to put him in the best situation to be successful,” James Franklin said. “And we weren’t able to do that today.”

One of the issues that Penn State had during the game was a failure to establish the run. Running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen are arguably the Nittany Lions’ two best offensive players. Together, they had 18 carries for 74 yards. Had that been better established, better passing opportunities may have opened up for Drew Allar.