Penn State football notebook | Find a way to win

The rivalry continues as No. 7 Penn State takes on No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday.

With the matchup put on a pedestal in Week 8, here are the main notes that you need to know.

Headed Home

Drew Allar heads back to his home state to face the Buckeyes for the first time in his collegiate career.

With all of the talk about the second year’s return to Ohio, head coach James Franklin took a look back at Allar’s recruiting process.

“When we started off, offered him and started recruiting him…he wasn’t viewed that way on a national scale yet,” Franklin said. “He earned it like old school blue collar Penn State way where he kept getting better.”

Allar continued that mindset as he took over the starting quarterback role for Penn State in 2023, leading the team to an undefeated start through the first half of the year.

“He is doing a really good job of keeping the main thing, the main thing,” Franklin said. “Protecting the football, trying to create explosive plays when they’re there but not forcing them, managing the game.”

In Allar’s first top-10-ranked matchup of his young career, Franklin said that he wants his quarterback to remain consistent and block out “all of the other stuff.”

“He doesn’t need to be any more than what he’s been in previous weeks, he just needs to continue to refine his process,” Franklin said. “He’s been steady…when you’re making small gains daily with your mental, emotional and physical approach to the game, you get better.”

Respect in the Rivalry

Despite the rivalry and history between the two programs, Franklin noted that he has a ton of respect for Ohio State and what Ryan Day has done with the program.

“Obviously the success that they’ve had,” Franklin said. “It’s interesting, he took over the program in a very different position than I did but still very challenging for very different reasons.”

Day has coached his team to a 6-0 start, defeating teams like Notre Dame and Maryland with Kyle McCord at the helm, who Penn State is no stranger to.

“Big arm, good sized guy, been in their system for a while,” Franklin said about Kyle McCord. “We recruited him, we know a lot about him and we have a ton of respect for him out of high school and continue to.”

McCord isn’t the only talent that Franklin and the coaching staff have kept their eyes on as Marvin Harrison Jr.'s performances speak for themselves.

“The thing that jumps out to me is his body control and ball skills,” Franklin said. “He’s got the ability to contort his body in positions and catch the ball effortlessly. He’s someone that we have to be aware of, at all times.”

Find a Way to Win

Penn State has dominated its opponents thus far, shutting out two teams at home. The closest matchup of the Nittany Lions schedule came against Illinois on the road but even then the blue and white won 30-13.

Franklin was asked what experience this team has in playing in close games despite having multiple possession leads in the fourth quarter through the majority of 2023.

“You can control the things that you can control,” Franklin said. “I think that we’ve played the way that we needed to play to get better.”

Despite having little experience with one possession games this season, the Nittany Lions are no strangers to handling the pressure of a tight fourth quarter.

“We practice those things in practice a lot with two-minute drills but there are some things that will have to organically happen,” Franklin said. “We’re played these guys for a long time, probably up to the last two years we’ve played these guys as well as anyone in the conference.”

In the past two years, Penn State and Ohio State entered the fourth quarter in a one possession game. Franklin believes that that trend will not change in this year’s matchup.

“I think that it’s going to come down to a one-possession game,” Franklin said on Wednesday. “We gotta find a way to win that situation at the end of the game…we have to capitalize on that situation on the road in a tough environment.”

Micheal Bolger is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mpb6233@psu.edu.