James Franklin’s Controversial PSU Past Tied to Drew Allar’s Repeat Offences in Eye-Opening Take

Penn State had one of its best seasons in a decade when it made it to the semi-finals of the playoffs. James Franklin achieved a 13-3 season, a success marred only by three losses, most notably against Notre Dame. They had two of the top running backs in the country in Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton; moreover, they also had one of the best tight ends in the country in Tyler Warren. Then what went wrong? Was it Drew Allar or James Franklin’s mistakes?

Critics were quick to jump to conclusions and blame it all on James Franklin, but looking closely, we find Allar not providing enough in these big games. Penn State lost its game against Ohio State, Oregon, and lastly against Notre Dame, all being ranked opponents. In all of them, Drew Allar was a major disappointment. Collectively, several analysts had a similar conclusion.

Steve Muench sat with Todd McShay and discussed Drew Allar’s shortcomings of last season, in their June 10th Episode of their podcast. “He has great touch, but there are times he puts too much air on the ball. There are times when he doesn’t know when to drive it and when to hang it up in the air. And it’s great when he gets it right, but there was too much air under that ball. It was the one place he couldn’t throw it,” said Steve. However, the major concerns showed in that Orange Bowl game, as per Steve.

Allar passed for 135 yards at a meagre 52.5% completion rate, completing just 12 of the 23 passes. In total, he targeted only two wide receivers and relied heavily on Tyler Warren, who caught 6 catches. Five of Allar’s attempts were screen passes, and only one attempt was over 20 yards. But his critical mistake came with 33 seconds left on the clock. With scores tied 24-24, he didn’t need to throw that pass, which he did at Omari Evans’ feet. However, Christian Gray leaped on the ball, giving possession back to Notre Dame. The Irish then scored a 41-yard field goal and won the game. But Allar’s disputes don’t end here.

“Yeah, like my notes in the Notre Dame game, miss wildly on dump off and flat pressure bearing down. Got to get better on these layups. Next play, early jitters. Misses a wheel route to 44, obviously. Makes a throw a lot on tape. So when you’re missing things that you’re making throughout the course of the season, there are a lot of the same concepts that he was hitting over and over again, and you start to not make them in these big games, you got to you got to mark it down,” pointed Todd McShay. Allar’s woes, however, weren’t limited to that Orange Bowl game.

Even in the Ohio State game, which Penn State lost, Allar gave away a costly interception with Penn State trailing 14-10 in the third quarter. The pass was initially intended for Warren, but was underthrown probably due to miscommunication, and the Buckeyes got a field goal, gaining momentum in that matchup. Against Oregon, Allar had 35% of drop-backs, completing just 3 of the 9 passes under pressure. Moreover, a missed third-down throw to Warren was also overthrown by almost 2-3 yards. But was it all Drew Allar, or did it also have to do with James Franklin and the playcalling?

Poor play calling or Drew Allar’s talent, which is responsible?

Andy Kotelnicki’s play calling was questionable against Ohio State, where 60% of play calls were under 10 yards. This was perplexing since Ohio State’s secondary allowed 6.1 yards per attempt. Moreover, Koelnicki’s run-heavy approach also backfired late when Ohio State stacked their box with 8-man fronts. Against Notre Dame, similar questionable decisions cropped up.

The OC’s game was overly conservative again, with just 6.3 aDOT and 5 screen passes. Moreover, only one deep attempt was called despite Irish’s secondary, allowing 7.2 yards per attempt. Then, Penn State’s reliance on Warren also failed to diversify the attack, and there were moments when it looked like some tight window throw calls were poorly designed for Allar. So, was James Franklin really bad in big games last year?

Well, yes! The performance in big games by James Franklin showed some of the issue the head coach constantly face against ranked opponents. Franklin currently stands 4-18 against top-10 AP teams, with occasional wins. Despite having one of the best squads in college football last year, similar issues were displayed. So, it wasn’t entirely Allar’s fault. It also emerged from James Franklin’s woes to turn up in big games.

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