Allar, Franklin Fumble Away Opportunity to Stay In Rhythm

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.- It is said that football is a game of momentum.

No. 10 Penn State gained momentum against No. 3 Michigan on Saturday afternoon at Beaver Stadium when Drew Allar found the endzone on an 11-yard rush with just 29 seconds remaining in the first half. With a chance to build upon the score that cut the deficit to five points when they received the second-half’s opening kick, Allar coughed up the ball, changing the game’s complexion for good.

“That’s when the game changed to me personally,” Allar said of the fumble. “We were moving the ball. I think that was our second set of first downs on that opening drive, and then just can’t put the ball on the ground and give them good field position.”

It wasn’t just the good field position, however, as the Wolverines, who picked up the ball on the Nittany Lion 49-yard line, composed a 13-play, eight-plus minute drive that extended their lead from five to eight in front of the student section in the south endzone.

“The turnover in the third quarter was a significant play in the game,” James Franklin said. “Up to that point, we were in a heck of a game, a heck of a dogfight between two of the best defenses in college football, two of the best teams in college football.”

That fumble didn’t end the dogfight despite ending the Nittany Lions’ season-long third quarter shutout as a Manny Diaz-led defense continued to shut down the offense on the other side of the field until less than five minutes remained in the game.

But just as Diaz’s defense kept Michgian’s offense out of rhythm, Allar, Franklin and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich followed suit.

“We got to do a better job of calling a game to allow a quarterback to get into rhythm. That is critical,” Franklin said. “We got to find easy completions for our quarterback to get into rhythm. That’s what everybody does.”

The sophomore signal caller had five drives to work with after the fumble, but the offense stalled out four times before finding paydirt with 1:59 to go in the contest. Over those four failed drives after the giveaway and before the late Theo Johnson touchdown, the offense ran 16 total plays for 23 yards while holding possession for just 6:11.

It wasn’t just something that took away momentum from the game, but from a rather strong stretch of play for the Medina, Ohio native. Allar’s last struggles came against Ohio State three Saturday’s ago when the blue and white lost 20-12, and Allar himself went 18-for-42 with 191 yards and another late touchdown.

Since then, the former five-star recruit had found the success that earned him high praise in high school and the starting job over Beau Pribula this year.

Despite team-wide struggles against Indiana, Allar finished 20-for-31 with 210 yards and three touchdowns through the air, although he did throw his first career interception. One week after that performance and thus one week before the matchup with the Wolverines, Allar had a career day, going 25-for-34 for 240 yards and four touchdowns against Maryland.

On the penultimate weekend of the 2023 Beaver Stadium campaign, No. 15 regressed, finishing 10-for-22 passing with 70 yards and one touchdown. The 6-foot-5, 242-pound quarterback also added 49 rushing yards alongside his first-half touchdown on 10 rushing attempts.

Allar blamed himself, giving a point-blank response of “not good enough: when asked to rate his performance against Michigan. Franklin, on the other hand, saw other areas that didn’t allow Allar to establish a rhythm.

“Although there weren’t sacks, there were too many pressures,” Franklin continued. “There were too many times where we were not creating separation.”

Jaylen Harrell recorded Michigan’s lone sack, while Michael Barrett and Mason Graham recorded Michigan’s two quarterback hurries, but the Wolverine secondary blanketed Penn State’s top targets all day.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Johnson, the Nittany Lions’ leading targets this season, caught just three passes for 16 yards on Saturday. Dante Cephas, who had his best game in the blue and white one week prior, caught two passes for 11 yards against Michigan.

“I’m not the type of guy that’s going to put blame on anybody else,” the 19-year-old said. “It’s always looking at yourself in the mirror at the end of the day, seeing what you did good and bad and just learning from it…I personally feel I didn’t play well enough to win the game today.”

Justin Ciavolella is a third-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu or justinciavolella@gmail.com.