What Quirky Play Will Penn State Put on Film Vs. FIU?

But Franklin thought the play was successful in one respect. It went on the record with something that Penn State might never run again this season but wants opponents to believe is a possibility. And then to have to study.

"Obviously you would like to get some of these things on film that people have to spend time working on them," Franklin said. "You would be amazed how much time you spend working on things like that, all the different alignments, and you've got to be sound or people can take advantage of it. So that was a miss on our part and on my part. We didn't do a good enough job of coaching that, teaching that, and on Saturday of executing that."

So what could be next when the Nittany Lions face FIU on Saturday? Penn State showed multiple offensive fronts, including six- and seven-man lines, and ran several receiver sweeps against Nevada. The offense also lined in a Wildcat formation but motioned out of it. Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki likes to insert a few trick plays into gameplans, so that's always possible against the Panthers.

Drew Allar signs with Nike

The Penn State quarterback and Nike jointly announced an NIL deal on Thursday could extend into the quarterback's professional career. The announcement was simple, calling Allar "The Pride of Pennsylvania," even though he's from Ohio.

Allar's timing was coincidental, as Penn State is considering a switch from Nike to Adidas for its apparel contract. If Penn State's Board of Trustees approves the deal, it wouldn't go into effect until at least 2026. Allar will be in the NFL by then.

Anyway, it was the second major NIL deal Allar has announced recently. In late August, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce unveiled his new "Tru Kolors" product line with American Eagle, with Allar among the participating brand athletes.

More tempo offense to come?

Penn State ran 71 plays vs. Nevada, a big number considering it finished with only about 7 minutes more possession time than the Wolf Pack. Franklin said that, since Nevada tried to slow the game by running down the play clock, he sought to counter with a faster offensive pace.

Franklin asked offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki to run more tempo, or hurry-up offense, during the game to quicken the pace and reclaim control of the clock. Franklin would not be surprised to see FIU try the same strategy Saturday. Which means Penn State could continue playing the tempo game.

"It's always going to be a part of what we do because it's one of the weapons we want to use," Franklin said of the tempo offense. "... I would in that game you probably saw maybe a little bit more,
and that was me getting on the headset and at halftime talking about using tempo, because [the Wolf Pack] were smart.

"They were making sure that when they were on offense they were never snapping the ball with less than five seconds to go on the clock, they were trying to shorten the game as much as they possibly could. I wanted to make sure we had a chance on offense to get as many reps, and we want to be good in tempo, too. So it was an opportunity to really work on both."

Penn State hosts FIU at noon ET Saturday at Beaver Stadium. Big Ten Network will televise.