NCAAF News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Drew Allar and Penn State passing offense looks like it may struggle again after abysmal spring game

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Travis May | Last updated 4/15/24

Drew Allar was supposed to be the savior of the Penn State program. And while he may continue to improve it's certainly looking like those expectations may have been set too high and too quickly. When Allar arrived on campus as a five star many expected transcendence, but what they got in 2023 was inefficient, unimpressive, and inconsistent results. Hope was renewed this spring with a new offensive system and coordinator, but the Nittany Lions are off to a rough start this year.

The Penn State passing offense looked absolutely abysmal on Saturday in the spring game, even if they were fighting through some significant wind gusts at times. Drew Allar spent much of the day looking lost, forcing throws, missing short and long, left and right. He finished 15/32 for 202 yards and touchdown, but even that 6.31 yards per attempt mark tells too optimistic a story.

Here are two full minutes of "highlights" from Drew Allar and Penn State's passing game. It's pretty tough to watch.

2 full minutes of Drew Allar “highlights” from the Penn State spring game on Saturday.

Warning. This is tough to watch. pic.twitter.com/BdSjE9E0yn
— Travis May (@FF_TravisM) April 15, 2024

Again, we could simply dismiss this as "just a spring game" and "due to wind gusts", but there were just so many problems all day long with Allar and the passing offense for Penn State. Whether it was footwork, timing, horrible decisions, or just plain inaccuracy, nothing looked right through the air. There's still plenty of time for Allar to get the team up to speed, but Saturday's performance doesn't provide much hope for Penn State fans that this fall will be any better than usual.

Allar was solid last fall when it came to protecting the ball, keeping the offense on schedule, and finding his outlets underneath to create at least small positive plays. But when it came to facing the two big brother programs, Ohio State and Michigan, he barely completed 40% of his passes for four yards per attempt.

Even outside of those two bad games Penn State struggled overall creating explosive plays. The team ranked 90th in yards per pass attempt, and 113th in explosive passing plays (20+ yards). There was just absolutely zero juice to the offense at all. Yes, the Nittany Lions ranked 12th in points per game and won 10 games (again), but it definitely wasn't due to their passing game.

There was some good mixed in with the less than impressive last year, but for a five star quarterback like Allar, expectations just simply have not been met. Allar needs to take a huge step forward, and fast, otherwise Penn State is probably just never going to get over the hump in today's Big Ten.

Be looking for more College coverage here at A to Z Sports all year long! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: