Twice, Drew Allar needed to make the biggest play of his Penn State football life in the fourth quarter in Los Angeles.
To that point, he had been so much of everything good and bad, promising and frustrating, that he’s always been over the past couple of years. On one hand, he calmly led scoring drives, carefully picked his throwing spots and lofted a pretty touchdown pass 40 yards down the field with an easy flick of his wrist.
And yet he also had owned more maddening mistakes on another big stage and buried his head on the sidelines. He threw three interceptions on this day − after throwing just three in his entire Penn State career before.
This would be his time, then. The final minutes of regulation in undefeated Penn State’s eventual 33-30 overtime Saturday survival of the USC Trojans.
Is Allar truly growing into the big-game, national title-contending quarterback Penn State envisioned in the former five-star high school prospect?
Is he finally becoming the quarterback everyone thought he could be, should be?
The answer, at least for now: He is.
Oct 12, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar (15) throws a pass in the first half against the USC Trojans at United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Go back to those two fourth-down plays in the fourth quarter. The way he pulled them off. He probably couldn’t have done that last year − not in losses to Ohio State and Michigan and Mississippi.
But look at him against USC, already with two bad interceptions on his back. His Nittany Lions were trailing by a touchdown. The L.A. Coliseum crowd was howling for one more stop, one more mistake.
Penn State football: Drew Allar to Julian Fleming to victory
On the first fourth down, he dropped back and calmly delivered a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/analysis-drew-allar-finally-became-014959693.html
Author : York Daily Record
Publish date : 2024-10-13 01:49:59
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