Takeaways: Drew Allar injury looms large in win over Rutgers

Penn State football got back to its winning ways Saturday, defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 27-6 inside Beaver Stadium on senior day. While it was good to end the 2023 home slate with a victory, it’s the potential loss of Drew Allar to injury that will loom large for the Nittany Lions to close out the year. What did we learn from Penn State football during win No. 9 of the season?

Drew Allar injury looms large

Drew Allar was injured on the opening series of the second half for Penn State, on an 8-yard run to pick up a 1^st down. Allar remained in for a play but through the ball out of bounds and looked to be off. He then entered the blue medical tent and never returned to the game. Initially, the thought was that the sophomore QB had a concussion, but it later looked like it was an injury to his throwing shoulder.

It doesn’t seem like it was too bad of an injury, but Penn State decided to keep him out of the game as a precautionary measure. As of Monday, James Franklin noted that he “expects” Allar to play against Michigan State. But the Penn State football coach also cautioned that it’s early in the week.

If Allar isn’t 100%, we may see James Franklin decide to go with Beau Pribula against the Spartans and try to rest Allar for the bowl game. Penn State football enters the week as a 20-point favorite in what will technically be a Michigan State home game at Ford Field.

Beau Pribula dominates on the ground in relief of Allar

Beau Pribula entered for the injured Allar in the second half, and made an immediate impact with a 39-yard run to push Penn State into the red zone. The backup QB ended up being the leading rusher for the Nittany Lions, picking up 71 yards on 8 carries, including a touchdown run to put the game out of reach.

Pribula averaged 8.9 yards per carry and opened up the run game as a whole. He only had one pass attempt for 9 yards. But other than that, the coaching staff didn’t ask him to do much.

The success on the ground has led some to express that Pribula should be the starter for the next game. At the very least, until we know that Drew Allar is 100% healthy, it may be best to start Pribula.

But the craziness that has ensued on social media, with people stating that Pribula should become the starter over Drew Allar. The argument is that he better fits the system that Franklin likes to operate because of his running ability. Thinking the backup QB is the better option is a tradition in college football unlike any other. But the thing is, fanbases are wrong 95% of the time.

Chop Robinson dominates, again

Stop me if you have heard this before, but Chop Robinson once again had a dominating performance. The star DE picked up a sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery, two tackles for loss, and 5 total tackles against the Scarlet Knights.

The key moment in the game happened in the second half, when Robinson beat the Rutgers OT to the QB, forced a fumble, and ultimately recovered it to give Penn State the ball in plus territory. That forced turnover led to a Penn State touchdown and pushed the Nittany Lions to a two-score lead.

Robinson was in the backfield all game long and continues to be a menace for the opposing offenses this season as he builds his NFL Draft profile. Penn State football fans will have at least one more game to enjoy his play this week, with a bowl game TBD for the stud defender.

Singleton shows flashes of 2022

It hasn’t been the year that many fans expected from Nick Singleton, as the run game has largely struggled this season. This year, Singleton has 584 yards for 4 yards per carry and 7 touchdowns, with his longest being the 20-yard run we saw on Saturday against Rutgers.

That is a stark comparison to the 1,061 yards, 12 touchdowns, and average 6.8 yards per carry we saw in 2022. Last year, the then-freshman RB eclipsed the 100-yard mark 4 times. This season, he has only eclipsed 70 yards rushing 3 times.

What we saw against Rutgers was promising, though. Singleton had his longest run of the year in the fourth quarter of this game. He finished with 11 carries for 61 yards, good for 5.5 yards per carry. It seemed that he had more explosiveness than we have seen this season, and, at times, had better vision against the Scarlet Knights as he hit some holes we haven’t seen during 2023. If Penn State football does make an NY6 Bowl, it will need both Singleton and Allen to get going to take down a potential top-10 team.

Special teams shine

It hasn’t been talked about enough this year, but Penn State football has had great special teams production. Daequan Hardy has made his presence known through multiple punt return touchdowns in a single game. Nick Singleton has had his fair share of solid kickoff returns. Specifically, though, Riley Thompson and Alex Felkins have been solid all year in the kicking game.

Thompson has punted the ball 43 times through 11 games and has averaged a solid 45.1 yards per punt. He has downed 14 balls inside the 20, good for 32.56% of his total kicks, and only one resulting in a touchback.

His most impressive punt of the season came on Saturday against Rutgers. Backed up on the edge of his own endzone, Thompson was able to get a one step kick off for a season-long 56 yards and flip the field. Thompson has been consistent all season, and it is always a good thing when people don’t know the punter, because it means he doing his job and not on the field too much.

Alex Felkins has also been a game-changer for the Nittany Lions this season. Felkins has been Mr. Consistent all year long. The Columbia transfer is 42-42 on extra points and 16-19 on field goals, good for 84.2%. He has been a perfect 9-9 inside of 40 yards and is 15-16 inside of 50.

Against Rutgers, Felkins had a big 48-yard kick that pushed the lead to 13-6 in the third quarter. The reliability at kicker has helped the Nittany Lions’ points-per-drive consistently all year. It is time to give Felkins his flowers.

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