Drew Allar believes gap with Ohio State, Michigan is close for Penn State

The two biggest games of the year for Penn State were again Michigan and Ohio State. Entering the season, all three teams were viewed as contenders for the Big Ten Championship and the race to Indianapolis looked like it’d be an interesting one.

The Nittany Lions dropped both games — a 20-12 loss to the Buckeyes and a 24-15 defeat to the Wolverines last week — as their only two losses of the season. The biggest takeaway from those matchups was the offense, which struggled to get much going and the program opted to fire Mike Yurcich after the Michigan game.

Considering Penn State was within single digits when time ran out, though, Drew Allar argued the Nittany Lions are closing that gap between the top two Big Ten East programs.

“It’s close,” Allar said. “The margin of error in college football is extremely small. There were a couple times where we just stopped ourselves and killed our momentum on offense. Then, we weren’t able to sustain drives, keep our defense off the field, give them a break. It’s just the margin of error in college football.”

Penn State’s coaching staff went through some changes after the Michigan game

The fallout from the loss to Michigan — which didn’t have Jim Harbaugh due to suspension — led to a staff change. James Franklin chose to fire Yurcich after Penn State’s rough year offensively. The Nittany Lions rank No. 8 in the Big Ten in passing offense, and one of the biggest criticisms has been the lack of explosive plays from Allar.

As for how the quarterbacks are handling the change, Franklin said they’re taking everything in stride.

“It’s been good,” Franklin said. “They’ve handled it well. Obviously, it’s a tough situation but, they’ve they’ve handled it well. And I think also, they got a ton of respect for Danny, and Danny has been with those guys, a lot of them, through the recruiting process and afterward.

“So, I think that helped. If it would have been somebody completely new coming into that room that hadn’t been with him, I think that could have been more challenging.”

With Yurcich out, Penn State is turning to co-offensive coordinator Ja’Juan Seider and Ty Howle to fill his role. Franklin is also moving Robb Smith into a “headset role” with the open spot, and he said Smith’s experience was a key part of that decision.

“He’s just one of our most experienced guys,” Franklin said. “He’s been a defensive coordinator at Duke, at Rutgers, at Minnesota. Just a very experienced guy that we think could bring a lot of value for us.”