Drew Allar, Andy Kotelnicki's 'deliberately aggressive' offense seem like good match

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It is tough to say precisely what former Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich may need performed had he been the one calling performs when the Nittany Lions assumed possession with 0:32 remaining within the second quarter and the ball at their very own 27-yard line, the scoreboard displaying a seven-point lead. Maybe Yurcich, who was fired by head coach James Franklin final November amid a 3rd consecutive subpar season, would have lobbied for a ruthless method that trusted the decision-making and deftness of quarterback Drew Allar, now a multi-year starter, and pushed the ball downfield understanding he nonetheless had one timeout at his disposal and the prospect to gore West Virginia with two scores in fast succession. Maybe the result winds up the identical: a last-second landing from Allar to broad receiver Harrison Wallace III to interrupt the sport open and deflate the Mountaineer devoted.

Although it is unimaginable to rule that situation out, frequent observers and followers of the Penn State program know higher than to surprise about that risk, to go away themselves open to the thought of Yurcich, whose 2023 offense was tied for a hundred and tenth nationally in passes of 30-plus yards, invoking such militancy from such an antagonistic place on the sector. The three-play, 73-yard lightning-fast drive, which included completions of 55 yards and 18 yards and ended with a phenomenal back-shoulder landing from Allar to Wallace, was unquestionably the work of former Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, now the Nittany Lions’ czar of creativity and guile. That he rushed his offense to the road of scrimmage and appeared to catch West Virginia unaware for a play that ended as the sport’s longest acquire was Kotelnicki’s pièce de résistance.  

“I believe that is simply Coach Okay,” Allar mentioned. “I believe he is aggressive [and] not in a foul method, clearly. He is actually aggressive, nevertheless it’s not reckless in any respect. All of the performs that he units up for these type of pictures are going to be performs that we’re gonna name all through every week [of the season]. Perhaps it is simply dressed a bit of in another way. I believe that is simply the perspective we need to tackle as an offense of being aggressive and being intentional about being aggressive.”

In what amounted to the formal unveiling of Franklin’s sixth offensive coordinator in 11 seasons, Kotelnicki devised and directed an offense that was much more harmful than something Penn State sometimes mustered when Yurcich wore the headset. For the primary time in a very long time — and maybe not because the early days of Franklin’s tenure in Glad Valley — the Nittany Lions discovered methods to bottle their explosive good points and dole them out with a consistency that stretched from the dashing assault to the passing sport and spanned all 4 quarters of the 34-12 win over West Virginia on Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium. Even a protracted climate delay of two hours and 19 minutes proved incapable of slowing a unit that churned out 457 yards of complete offense and averaged almost 8 yards per play, thrice producing touchdowns of 20 yards or extra.

It was the type of efficiency that, if constructed upon, will lend Penn State some sorely wanted ballast for a protection that has been wonderful the previous few seasons and opened the 2024 marketing campaign with requisite ferocity, even with a brand new coordinator of its personal. The high-scoring Mountaineers failed to succeed in the tip zone till the 12:49 mark of the fourth quarter, by which level Franklin was prepared to tug his starters on each side of the ball.

“I believe we have got an opportunity to be good on each side of the ball,” Franklin mentioned. “I believe we’ve an opportunity to be extra balanced on each side of the ball. And once I discuss steadiness, I am speaking about each with the ability to win on the defensive aspect of the ball, with the ability to win on the offensive aspect of the ball. And I believe there have been examples of that in the present day.”

‘We have been extra explosive’ – Penn State head coach James Franklin’s ideas concerning the offensive efficiency

The offensive examples, and Kotelnicki’s creativity that sparked them, started on Penn State’s opening possession when backup quarterback Beau Pribula jogged onto the sector for a important third down, superbly executing an choice pitch to tailback Nicholas Singleton (13 carries, 114 yards, 1 TD) that gained 7 yards to maneuver the chains. Pribula turned an everyday presence on designed quarterback runs (three carries for 25 yards) and multi-quarterback alignments that have been peppered all through the sport. He gives a change of tempo to the larger, extra lumbering Allar, and in accordance with Franklin, will probably be utilized on a weekly foundation, with the top coach going as far as to explain Pribula as “a giant a part of what we’re doing shifting ahead.”

And there have been different wrinkles that mirrored the extra dynamic method Kotelnicki is aiming to convey after a formidable stint at Kansas, the place the Jayhawks ranked fifth nationally in yards per play (7.1) during the last two seasons. There was a pre-snap movement through which 4 Nittany Lions organized themselves in a diamond to 1 aspect of the formation earlier than Singleton, who had drifted out towards the sideline, bolted throughout the formation and created house for a rifled completion to Wallace for 14 yards. There was a 50-yard landing move from Allar (11-of-17 for 216 yards, 3 TDs) to Wallace (5 catches, 117 yards, 2 TDs) through which the previous five-star quarterback, who typically struggled to uncork vertical passes in 2023, unleashed a splendidly anticipated throw earlier than the wideout had come out of his break. There was a wildcat alignment through which a tailback ready to take the snap and a quarterback lined up in house to the proper. There was a gutsy fourth-down conversion from Allar to tight finish Tyler Warren on a drive that ended with a landing move to operating again Kaytron Allen. There have been two important scrambles from Allar that picked up 10 yards apiece on Penn State’s opening drive of the second half, sucking the final ounce of hope from no matter proportion of the 62,084 followers that remained as soon as the torrential rain and lightning had handed.

By overseeing touchdowns on Penn State’s last possession of the second quarter and first possession of the third quarter, Kotelnicki helped ship a knockout blow with two scores in fewer than 5 minutes of sport time, extending the customer’s result in 21 — greater than sufficient to stave off the Mountaineers.

“I assumed our guys dealt with [the delay] very well, I assumed our employees dealt with it very well, and it was mirrored in popping out, you understand, with a landing to begin the second half,” Franklin mentioned. “So these middle-eight scores [in the last four minutes of the second quarter and first four minutes of the third quarter] have been most likely the 2 most vital within the sport, the tip of the primary half and the beginning of the second half.”

Kotelnicki’s offense did its job so crisply and effectively that Allar spent many of the fourth quarter on the sideline, watching and cheering for Pribula and Penn State’s different reserves. He raced onto the sector to cheer when sophomore defensive again Elliott Washington II snagged an interception with 2:37 remaining that formally sealed the win. His postgame celebrations included a particular handshake with Wallace and the recording of a social media message to thank the touring Nittany Lion followers. Then he started his jog towards the visiting tunnel, towards the buses that may take Penn State again to Glad Valley.

However earlier than he might go away the sector, a person in uniform requested for one final favor. 

“Nice sport, Drew,” the West Virginia state trooper mentioned, momentarily pausing his safety responsibility. “Can I get an image?”

That is how effectively Allar and the offense had performed.

Michael Cohen covers faculty soccer and basketball for FOX Sports activities with an emphasis on the Massive Ten. Comply with him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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