College football player prop: The valor of Allar

Headlining Saturday’s early kickoffs is a Big Ten matchup between Illinois and Penn State. This game represents the first conference clash for each, and the visiting Nittany Lions have been installed as two-touchdown favorites. Nobody can realistically expect the drama that unfolded in the last meeting, which went to a record nine overtimes before the Illini sprang the 20-18 upset two years ago. But this game does provide a nice opportunity for a prop to pop:

The bet: Over 238½ passing yards for Penn State quarterback Drew Allar (Bally’s)

A former five-star recruit, Allar has looked very impressive so far in his sophomore campaign. While guiding his team to a 2-0 start, he has thrown for four touchdowns, run for one, avoided any interceptions, and completed better than 78 percent of his passes.

Allar opened the season with 325 passing yards in a dominating 23-point win over West Virginia. Then he played only one second-half drive against FCS school Delaware and still nearly cleared this number, departing an eventual 63-7 drubbing with 220 yards.

If Allar remains undaunted in his first road test, he can exploit an Illinois defense that needed to replace three starters in the secondary. The biggest departure was cornerback Devon Witherspoon, who was selected with the fifth overall pick by the Seahawks. Further hurt by the losses of Sydney Brown and Jartavius Martin, the revamped unit has struggled, most recently allowing 277 yards through the air to Jalon Daniels of Kansas.

And it has yet to face a passer as skilled as Allar.