Greg McElroy shares why he has 'major' questions about Penn State

Greg McElroy pumped the brakes on Penn State and actually said he had major questions about the Nittany Lions going into 2023.

Yes, the Nittany Lions return a lot of talent from an 11-win team last year. But going to new quarterback Drew Allar is McElroy’s biggest concern. 

That’s not to say the ESPN analyst and former Alabama quarterback doesn’t think Allar will be good. But there are some questions for right now.

“Penn State is a team I have major question marks about now,” McElroy said on Always College Football. Not about whether or not they have talent, not about whether or not the youth from last year will continue to grow and progress not about some of the areas, but I look at some of the pieces they lost defensively they lost, excellent safety they lost, excellent corner they lost, some good personnel along the line of scrimmage. 

“Yes, I know they have an excellent second year linebacker that might be all world, we’ll find that out. I think the running backs are excellent, but I have question marks about Drew Allar. Everyone’s really high on him. I have question marks. I don’t know yet. I think he’s going to be good. I can’t tell you that without a shadow of a doubt. But everyone hyping him as if he’s the next great one for Penn State, I’m not willing to go down that rabbit hole just yet. We’ll see.”

McElroy went on to explain how Penn State’ schedule sets the team up to go, possibly, 6-0 through the first half of the year. If that’s the case, you’re looking at a top five team knocking on the door of a College Football Playoff ranking in November.

“Then you go on the road to Ohio State,” McElroy said. “I think that’s gonna be a difficult game for them to win in the end at home. Maybe you have a little bit of a letdown, a little bit of a hangover. I can’t imagine them losing to Indiana but either way, I think that game could be a little bit more difficult. A game at Maryland, very difficult game. I think Maryland is going to be really good this year … 

“And you get Michigan at home, but now we’re looking at a position where you go to Ohio State to Maryland and get Michigan at home. Those are three games that I think are extremely losable for Penn State. Couple that but now Rutgers at home, a game you should win, then you have the neutral site game against Michigan State.” 

The latter half of the schedule isn’t full of ‘gimmees’ in the mind of McElroy. After a 6-0 start, this Penn State team could sputter and lose upwards of four of its last six games.

Does the general consensus see a late season slide for Penn State like in 2021? Not necessarily, but McElroy is in a wait-and-see approach.