Grading Drew Allar’s performance in Penn State’s Week 2 win over Bowling Green

In the 2023 season, if Penn State’s defense wasn’t playing at an elite level, the Nittany Lion offense could not do enough to keep the ship afloat for a half let alone an entire game. Luckily for James Franklin, former defensive coordinator Manny Diaz’s defense was almost always elite. On Saturday in Week 2 of the 2024 season, Diaz’s replacement didn’t have his unit ready to play. 

New DC Tom Allen struggled to stop his former quarterback from his time as the head coach at Indiana, Connor Bazelak, and Bowling Green’s offense in the first half on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. Yet, Drew Allar, new OC Andy Kotelnicki, and tight end Tyler Warren prevented Penn State from taking on water, and ultimately, the offense was the reason that the Nittany Lions avoided disaster. 

After Penn State’s 34-12 Week 1 win over West Virginia, there was a thought that Kotelnicki had solved every problem and fixed Allar. In Week 2, Though Allar was impressive in a winning effort when his defense needed the former five-star junior to go score-for-score with a sixth-year quarterback punching way above his weight class, Bowling Green still revealed some growing pains for the former five-star and the other 10 players in blue and white who share the field with him. 

Now, with a bit of separation from Saturday and heading into a bye week, let’s evaluate Allar’s performance in Penn State’s 34-27 win over Bowling Green. 

So far, Penn State’s offense has been massively improved from 2023 to 2024, but it’s not a perfect unit. The Nittany Lions still have an alarming lack of talent at wide receiver and that deficiency cost Allar in Week 2. The junior QB finished 13/20 for 204 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, but his stat line should’ve been much more impressive. 

Penn State marched down the field on its first drive of the afternoon but stalled on drive No. 2. On that drive, the Nittany Lions got into a third-and-seven, and Allar responded by ripping an out-route to Harrison Wallace III on the sideline beyond the sticks. An excellent throw that Allar needed an NFL arm to make into tight coverage. It was called back for holding. 

Then, on third-and-17, Allar made an even more impressive play, climbing in the pocket to evade pressure with his eyes still downfield, he ripped a throw across the middle that hit Omari Evans in the chest but was dropped. Penn State was forced to punt. Those are two big-time plays with excellent throws that on the stat sheet look like a three-and-out. 

That drop wasn’t Evans only mishap. In the third quarter, Allar dropped one in a bucket from the Bowling Green 45 to the end zone that Evans caught, but the play was wiped away by a blatant offensive pass interference. Later, Allar used his legs again to extend the play later in the game and again his intended receiver, running back Kaytron Allen, couldn’t make the grab. 

Ultimately, Evans and Julian Fleming were the only Penn State wide receivers to catch a pass in the game. Evans finished with two grabs for 34 yards, which should’ve been much more, and Tyler Warren led the team in receiving with eight catches for 146 yards. 

There are so many flashes of brilliance from Allar and there is such a temptation to hand him the grade of an A, but the mistakes cannot be ignored. Allar’s interception was awful. It came after the drive should have been over on the touchdown throw to Evans that was taken away due to OPI, but Allar still has to be dinged for it. It was a bad decision to throw into double coverage and an even worse throw. 

Before that, the first drive of the second half came to an end when Allar was sacked for a loss of 23 yards on third-and-eight. The pressure got to him immediately when left tackle Drew Shelton was beat, but Allar took a negative play and made it even worse. Considering the situation it was fine for Allar to try and create, a punt was coming regardless, but that’s a concerning sign that could crop up again in a more crucial spot. 

One of the best signs for Allar and maybe my favorite play of the day was a third-and-two with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. Penn State protected well and Allar started looking left then worked all the way through his progression to his third read on the far right side of the field, Khalil Dinkins who caught the pass for a first down. Allar didn’t get happy feet and he didn’t bail on the clean pocket. It was patient and mature quarterbacking on an important down in a three-point game. 

Allar keeps getting better and that’s reflected in the numbers. Even with the lack of talent at wide receiver, Allar is generating 0.727 EPA (expected points added) per dropback through two games compared to 0.357 last season, and a 37% offensive success rate on passing downs, up 5% from 2023. Once he can eliminate the mistakes and the few lingering inaccurate throws, he’ll stay out of third-and-long situations and will shoot up NFL draft boards.