Drew Allar did exactly what most rational Penn State fans probably expected him to do on Saturday night. With the game on the line in 2OT against the Oregon Ducks in a heavyweight matchup between two Big Ten teams ranked inside the top six, he threw yet another game-losing interception.
After a dreadful performance was somewhat masked by a fourth quarter comeback, largely made possible by Allar making plays with his legs rather than his arm, Ducks safety Dillon Thieneman read Allar pretty much all the way on the opening play of Penn State's half of the second overtime period to quiet the crowd of over 111,000 fans at Beaver Stadium.
Chants of "Fire Franklin!" were what ultimately broke the silence moments after yet another signature Nittany Lion loss in an important game. With a chance to silence the critics, Allar only gave them more fuel.
The criticism of Allar is harsh, but fair. This is a third-year starting quarterback who at one point was projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and yes, we'll remind you again that he has been unquestionably outplayed by former Penn State backup quarterback Beau Pribula, whom James Frankly let out the door to transfer to Missouri, through the first few weeks of the season.
And after three consecutive subpar performances against Nevada, FIU, and Villanova, by far the weakest non-conference slate of any team actually considered to be a legitimate national championship contender, he once again proved that he is simply not an elite quarterback with his 14-for-25, 137-yard performance against Oregon.
Again, harsh, but fair. And after entering the year among the top five favorites to win the Heisman Trophy, Allar has all but dropped out of the race, with FanDuel Sportsbook now listing him at +6500 to win the prestigious award in December. For what it's worth, Pribula is listed at +3000.
Here's the thing, though. For as much as Penn State fans have justifiably criticized Allar for failing to execute at the highest level when the lights have been at their brightest (and not just in 2025), the other three quarterbacks who started the year ranked among the top five players most likely to win the Heisman Trophy have also been massive disappointments.
Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning was the favorite at +700, followed by Clemson Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik at +800 and LSU Tigers quarterback Garrett Nussmeier at +900. Allar was listed at +1400, with Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith being the only non-QB of the top five at +1300.
Manning and Nussmeier are now only listed at +5000, and Klubnik is listed at +25000.
Like Drew Allar, they too are all but out of the Heisman race.
Manning has actually performed better than a lot of fans have given him credit for, racking up 14 touchdowns in four games. But we can't overlook his historically bad performance against Ohio State to start the year, and his disastrous 11-for-25 performance with only 114 yards against UTEP also sticks out.
The preseason Heisman favorite has not met expectations, and Texas' three wins against UTEP, Sam Houston State, and San Jose State give Penn State's three wins a solid run for their money in the cupcake contest. Texas still has the non-conference edge by scheduling Ohio State, as the SEC only schedules eight conference games while the Big Ten schedules nine.
Then there's Nussmeier. LSU's offense has been atrocious, and while head coach Brian Kelly may think disrespecting reporters who ask about its flaws is going to help matters, Saturday's loss against Ole Miss showed it isn't. Nussmeier has just seven touchdowns in five games, and aside from the Tigers' win against Southeastern Louisiana, they have yet to score more than 23 points in a game.
The win against Clemson also doesn't look nearly as pretty now as it did back in the opening week of the season, and that brings us to Klubnik. Klubnik, one would have thought, entered the year as the most "proven" of the Heisman frontrunners, having increased his touchdown tally from 23 to 43 from 2023 to 2024.
Yet he's thrown a pick in each of the team's four games so far, the Tigers sit at 1-3, and their only win came in late comeback fashion against a Troy team that entered the game as 33.5-point underdogs.
This year's Heisman race was always shaping up to be wide open, and indeed, the favorite to win the award has changed literally every week thus far.
After it was Indiana's Fernando Mendoza a week ago, it's now Oregon's Dante Moore, following his clutch, sublime performance in front of Penn State's raucous White Out crowd in Happy Valley. He's listed at +500, making him the strongest favorite thus far.
Bottom line? Sure, Allar has underperformed, and the contingent of fans who insisted coming into the year that he was overhyped are looking early on like they were onto something.
But he's certainly not the only one, and you could even make the case that expectations were actually higher for some of the other big-name quarterbacks who have not yet come close to living up to the hype that surrounded them heading into the season.
Full Heisman odds can be found here and are always subject to change.