Penn State gets win over Rutgers with a spark from Beau Pribula: Instant Analysis
The Penn State Nittany Lions defeated the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 27-6 in a slogging, brutal game to end the 2023 home season for the Lions. We recap the win, which featured a quarterback injury to starter Drew Allar, and a ferocious defense that forced Rutgers to turn the ball over multiple times.
James Franklin happy with Penn State plan on offense
While Allar’s injury changed things for the Penn State offense in a dramatic way, Penn State head coach James Franklin was still pleased with the win and how his team played.
“I was very pleased with the whole staff and the players in general. They handled it first class. They just got to work. I was pleased with both Ja’Juan and Ty did a really nice job all week long, not only from an organizational standpoint but then also from a leadership standpoint. Then, obviously, from a schemes standpoint,” he said.
However, the most apparent variable for the team was Penn Staet backup quarterback Beau Pribula coming into the game and opening up some new options for the team in the read option game.
“When Beau came in, it opens up some things in the run game for you. You’re able to do some different things there. We are planning on playing both of them anyway. We’ve had that plan the last couple of weeks, but we called it earlier. We plan on playing both of them throughout that game. I thought when Beau came in, he did some really nice things.”
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Pribula is the story
Today’s video focuses mostly on Penn State’s change; running the quarterback more and using Pribula’s legs to open up the offense. Senior Editor Nate Bauer has a strong stance on how significant that portion of Franklin’s comments were after the game.
“In terms of the way that the offense operates, Beau came in and scored three of the four possessions, and they should have scored on the other one.”
“What’s the difference between this week and last week? The offensive coordinator’s not there. What did the offensive coordinator want? Not to use Beau. I’m projecting a little bit here but it seems that there’s a signal bing sent.”
Finally, publisher Sean Fitz gives his thoughts about the Penn State defense, which was lights-out again. The Nittany Lions gave up 77 yards after halftime and put Rutgers in a strangle-hold that allowed the offense to win the game late. He highlights Chop Robinson and Kevin Winston Jr. as standout players.
