James Franklin came off defensive when questioned about Drew Allar and finishing drives following another Penn State slow start

Drew Allar's in-game decisions were flat out wildly bad at times. He would go through his reads, look off a wide open player, and check the ball down or force a throw that didn't need to be made (as you can see an example of in Geoff Schwartz' post above).

Allar's performance was choppy. He looked rushed when he didn't have to be–often acting as though there was pressure to worry him when there was not.

However, just like he does a few times every week, Allar reminded everyone of his upside, as you can see on the touchdown pass below.

The problem is that the "good" Drew Allar just doesn't show up enough–or at least consistently enough–right now. When that consistency disappears, so do third down and critical conversions. That issue was brought up (again) in the postgame presser and James Franklin seemed a bit frustrated and defensive:

"[Our inability to finish drives] is obviously something you're concerned about because it's the second week you've brought it up (he said with a smirk to a specific beat reporter). Yeah, I want to finish drives and score touchdowns too. And so does Andy Kotelnicki. And so do all of our players. We've got to get better. We've got to get better this week. We've got to be better on third down. We've got to be more explosive. We have not hit our explosive play mark the last two weeks, and we weren't good enough on third down today. And those things are going to stall out drives. I have the same concerns that you do, but that's what they are. They're concerns. And they're things that we're going to emphasize and focus on this week."

James Franklin wasn't kidding about Penn State's third down issues. For the second week in a row Penn State–and mostly Drew Allar–could not get it done on third down. The Nittany Lions went 3-for-12 on third downs against FIU. Then followed that up by converting just five third downs on 11 attempts against FCS Villanova. That's just indefensible for a potential "national title contender".

Franklin had a bit of a frustrated tone every time he talked about his offense in the postgame press conference, but tried to convey that the team understands the concerns, the issues, and hammered home that his staff is going to get things fixed.

The flashes have been there. Just like Franklin said, "You've had an opportunity to see [Kyron] Hudson. You've seen [Trebor] Pena. You've seen [Devonte] Ross. And now we've got to be able to all three of them involved on a consistent basis." Every playmaker has shown what they can do here and there. Drew Allar has flashed his five star talent here and there. The team just can't seem to string enough good plays together through the air right now. Against Villanova and FIU, that's fine. Against Oregon in less than two weeks? Not so much. Hopefully Penn State can get things figured out soon.

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