PASADENA, Calif. — Penn State has entered seasons with high expectations before, beginning five seasons as a top-10 team under head coach James Franklin.
But this year was supposed to be different, starting with a No. 2 preseason ranking — the team’s highest since 1997. And who could blame the voters, with the Nittany Lions returning quarterback Drew Allar, running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton, defensive tackle Zane Durant, linebacker Tony Rojas, safety Zakee Wheatley and others, and bringing in established transfers at key positions, including wide receivers Kyron Hudson, Devonte Ross and Trebor Peña and linebacker Amare Campbell.
Not to mention poaching defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from conference rival and reigning national champion Ohio State on a deal that made him the highest paid coordinator in the history of college football.
To make things easier, Penn State started the season with nonconference games against Nevada, Florida International and FCS Villanova before a bye week in the lead-up to a top-10 matchup against Oregon.
The Nittany Lions entered that game fully rested, not having been challenged at all, in front of the best homefield advantage in the country. Even Vegas bought into the hype, with Penn State favored by a consensus 3.5 points prior to kick off, which isn’t typically the case when it plays in big games.
Despite a late surge, Penn State fell short once again. But that loss could be written off — the team battled into double overtime with one of the best opponents in the country after a lackluster first half. If the Nittany Lions could play like they did in the fourth quarter for the rest of the season, they’d be squarely in national championship contention.
And then, they lost to UCLA. Winless, 0-4 UCLA. Interim head coach and coordinators UCLA. Hadn’t held a lead for a single second all season UCLA. Got blown out by New Mexico UCLA. That UCLA.
The Nittany Lions traveled across the country to play in front of a sleepy 30,000 fans in the iconic Rose Bowl Stadium, many of which were wearing navy blue and white. Before the game, a plane circled around the stadium displaying the message “FIRE UCLA AD MARTIN JARMOND.”
Once again, the pieces had fallen perfectly in place for a Penn State win. Once again, that didn’t happen.
So what’s the issue? Loyalty — to a fault.
Quarterback Drew Allar’s big-game shortcomings (below 50% passing in losses to Ohio State, Michigan and Ole Miss in 2023, 146 yards against the Buckeyes in 2024) led to calls from fans and media for backup Beau Pribula to take over the starting role.
Penn State stuck with Allar, and when he announced his return for his senior season, Pribula understandably entered the transfer portal, albeit before the start of the playoffs.
Media members get brief, 10-minutes looks into practice each week, and fans get nothing other than team-curated in-house social media clips. It’s hard to know exactly what goes on and who performs better during practice. But what we can all see is play on the field.
This season, Allar has completed 71 of 113 passes (62.8%) for six touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s taken 19 carries for 69 yards.
Pribula, now at Missouri with worse surrounding talent (not my opinion — based on recruiting rankings), has completed 110 of 145 passes (75.9%) for nine touchdowns and three interceptions. He shines on the ground, with 40 carries for 121 yards and three touchdowns.
Both quarterbacks have a five-game sample size against a similar strength of schedule, and Pribula has been objectively better.
It extends beyond the quarterback position, though.
For unfathomable reasons, Penn State has continued to make Nick Singleton the bell-cow back despite substantially less rushing success than his counterpart, Kaytron Allen. Singleton has led the team in rushes in three of five games and has a 52-46 edge over Allen this season. But it’s Allen who holds a whopping 327-200 rushing yard advantage on fewer carries. I wrote about this three weeks ago, and I guess Franklin and Co. forgot to read my column, because the problem persists.
Against Oregon, Allen averaged 4.5 yards on 12 touches, while Singleton averaged just 1.9 while toting the rock 11 times. Against the Bruins, Allen averaged 6.3 yards on just eight carries while Singleton averaged 3.5 on 11 carries.
The passing game is impacted by the staff’s lack of adjustments, too — it seems as though every time Peña touches the ball, it’s on a jet sweep. Peña said that the installment of the play was part of the staff’s pitch to get him to Happy Valley. It might’ve been cute at first, but now it’s exceedingly ugly.
The play worked multiple times against Villanova, but last week the Ducks seemed to snuff it out. It was becoming too predictable. So for some reason, Penn State chose to run it against UCLA, in a move that everyone on the field and in the stands saw coming. It resulted in a tackle for a 10-yard loss in the second quarter.
So after the Nittany Lions clawed their way back into the game, trailing 42-35 and facing a crucial fourth-and-two situation, guess what play they broke out? Peña went in motion and the Bruins brought the house, dooming the play from the start. Allar had the built-in option to keep the ball, which he did, and was immediately tackled.
The defense isn’t free of this issue either. After looking like an elite unit through four games, it had a complete meltdown, surrendering 42 points to a team with a previous high of 23. The engine of UCLA’s offense was quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who for possibly the first time in his college career, lived up to his five-star status as a recruit.
Iamaleava burned the defense to the tune of 128 yards on 16 carries, with minimal adaptations from Penn State. When asked after the game, Franklin said the team attempted to spy Iamaleava on a couple plays but wasn’t finding success. So their answer was to go back to what wasn’t working — allowing him free runs up the middle, including a 52-yarder to set up a crucial touchdown.
Whether it’s sticking with the wrong starter, wrong coach, wrong play calls or wrong scheme, Penn State has been far too slow to make adjustments, if it does at all. These consistent blunders have seemingly cost the team a chance at a national championship this season. But maybe next year they’ll adjust to these mistakes.
