Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula talks first win, performance against Rutgers
STATE COLLEGE — Penn State quarterback Beau Pribula has played on many major stages and won a lot of games over the course of his football career. His legs, and poise, are the two main reasons for that. Both shined again on Saturday in the Lions’ 27-6 win over Rutgers.
The second-year Lion and York native was forced into the game early in the third quarter after starter Drew Allar suffered an upper-body injury. He did not look nervous. Instead, he did what he often does: Take off out of the pocket and move the chains. His first play, a run, went for 39 yards. It did not lead to a score. But, Penn State kicked a field goal and scored two touchdowns on his other three drives in relief of Allar, who watched the remainder of the game from the sidelines.
“I’m always ready to go in the game, no matter what,” Pribula said. His first snap of the game came on a designed rush in the first quarter. “I saw it was kind of a rough hit. But it looked alright at first. And, then I saw Drew kind of signal to the sideline. I was ready to move.”
Pribula completed his lone pass attempt for nine yards. He also scampered for a game-high 71 yards, including a two-yard score to ice the game.
“Coach has done a really good job getting me in games and in situations all season long, and that made my job so much easier today,” Pribula said. “It was a lot more comfortable. I felt super comfortable in there just because I’ve had that experience so far.”
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Will Penn State use Pribula more moving forward?
Franklin pointed to the aforementioned first quarter play as evidence of the fact that Penn State wanted to use Pribula more in this game. It goes without saying that his role expanded in an unexpected way later in the contest. But, it feels like a safe bet that the sophomore will be used more than normal over the final two games of the season. Whether or not that is as a starter or change of pace option remains to be seen. Allar’s injury is not expected to keep him out for a long period of time. But, whether or not he’ll be ready to play on a short week next Friday night is not yet clear.
“When Drew got hurt and Beau came in, it opens things up for you in the run game. We planned on playing both throughout that game,” Franklin said. “I thought when Beau came in he did a nice job.
“I thought we had a good plan. Some of our zone read stuff that we do, some of the similar things that we did against Iowa and thought there was carryover and make sense. When Beau would come in the game, they have to respect the zone read. It changes how you call the game defensively. And Drew’s done more of that as the season has gone on.”
