The 2024 Penn State Nittany Lions can win the national championship. At most sportsbooks, they have the fourth or fifth-best odds to win it all and are big favorites to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals with a Fiesta Bowl win over Boise State. The 2024 Penn State Nittany Lions can’t, however, win the national championship without Drew Allar.
The former five-star quarterback has made good on his sky-high potential and gaudy talent under first-year offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki this season and will enter 2025 as a Heisman Trophy favorite and potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft. There aren’t many teams that could survive with a player like that going down, though Georgia will attempt to with Gunner Stockton replacing the injured Carson Beck for the Sugar Bowl against Notre Dame, but Penn State’s safety net is gone.
Backup QB Beau Pribula departed the program prior to Penn State’s first-round CFP win over SMU at Beaver Stadium, and on Sunday committed to Missouri out of the transfer portal. Pribula’s untimely exit left true freshman Ethan Grunkemeyer as QB2 behind Allar, and with a comfortable fourth-quarter lead, “Grunk” made his collegiate debut.
Quarterbacking the final three drives of the fourth quarter, Grunkemeyer completed one of his two passes, but his first throw as a college quarterback went off the hands of Harrison Wallace III and into the hands of SMU defensive back Brandon Crossley. His shaky performance adds credence to concern that the Pribula’s departure created a significant dropoff from starter to backup in the Penn State quarterback room, but at least it’s out of the way.
“I think he handled the moment fine,” Kotelnicki said of Grunkemeyer’s debut in the postgame press conference. “He was prepared all week to go into the game,” Kotelnicki continued, “I think anytime that you're the backup quarterback or the third-string quarterback, you need to prepare like you're the starter and he does that.”
One of the best things about blowing out SMU, other than advancing the CFP and keeping its season alive, was getting the new QB2 some reps, and with most of the offensive starters still in the game.
“You probably want that throw a little more on the body or just hand, it off,” Kotelnicki said, evaluating Grunkemeyer’s first collegiate pass attempt, “but it happens, so you go back out there you get it out of the way and you respond to adversity.”
There wasn’t much from Grunkemeyer’s two pass attempts for Kotelnicki to evaluate. Still, if he somehow finds his way onto the field in the Fiesta Bowl or beyond, it won’t be entirely unfamiliar territory for the young freshman.
It was always unlikely that Penn State would be able to advance in the CFP if Allar suffered an injury at any point during the postseason, but without Pribula it may be an impossibility. Grunkemeyer has impressed the coaching staff all season and is likely the future of the program in 2026, but now that he’s one play away from becoming the present of the program, it’s that much more important for the play-calling and offensive line to keep Allar upright.