This simple stat says Drew Allar’s performance vs Purdue was best by Penn State QB since 2000

Week 12 was a breeze for No. 4 Penn State in West Lafayette, Indiana. The Nittany Lions cruised to a 49-10 win over the 1-9 Purdue Boilermakers, and junior quarterback Drew Allar was nearly perfect before he wrapped up his day midway through the third quarter. 

Allar, who completed under 60% of his passes in 2023, connected on 17 of his 19 attempts for 247 yards and three touchdowns. That’s an 89.5% completion percentage, which is the best by a Penn State quarterback in a single game in the past 25 years. 

The former five-star passer has taken a huge step forward this season in first-year offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s innovative system. For the year, he’s completing well over 70% of his throws and averaging 9.7 yards per attempt, up from 6.8 in his sophomore season. 

Increased accuracy isn’t the only improvement that Allar has made in 2024. This offseason he reportedly slimmed down to be more athletic in and outside of the pocket, and that skillset was on display against the outmatch Boilermakers on Saturday. Allar only ran the ball four times for 22 yards, but he also had the most impressive run of his career. 

Every game is a must-win for the Nittany Lions, who likely must finish 11-1 to make the 12-team College Football Playoff with an at-large bid. Even with that in mind, the stakes were relatively low, entering Week 12 as a massive favorite over Purdue, a team that is still winless in Big Ten play. Still, Saturday was one of Allar’s most impressive performances of his career and a great sign for the Nittany Lions as they prepare for a potential CFP run. 

Allar hasn’t yet surpassed Trace McSorley as the best Penn State quarterback of the 21st century, but with this performance and many others, he might be well on his way. That's not just because of a cherry-picked completion percentage stat against the worst team in the conference. It's because Allar is giving Penn State a chance to win every week and if he does that when the stakes get raised, the legacy talks will rightfully start, and so will the NFL draft conversation.