Drew Allar Report Card vs. Illinois: Penn State QB Comes Back to Earth

Drew Allar had been one of Penn State’s best players this season, showing incredible growth from his 2023 form in 2024 leading to “Drew Allar Unlocked” talk this week.

However, while Saturday was supposed to be Allar’s “coming out” party, he returned slightly back down to earth, playing well, but not quite as well as he had in the first three contests.

Penn State handled its business, taking care of Illinois 21-7, but Allar wasn’t the catalyst many expected him to be.

Drew Allar Report Card From Penn State’s Win Over No. 19 Illinois

Drew Allar, Penn State Football — Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar (Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images)

Penn State did not require Allar to do a ton Saturday, opting instead to rely on the Nittany Lions‘ stellar running game for most of the night against Illinois.

However, when Allar was put in the spotlight, Allar was hit or miss.

On a few drives, Allar was decisive and showed off improved accuracy from last season. On Penn State’s first touchdown drive of the game, Allar went two for three for 36 passing yards and rushed for another 11 on the ground. Later in the half, however, Allar struggled with uncharacteristic (for 2024) inaccuracy, missing Khalil Dinkins and Harrison Wallace on consecutive plays before Sander Sahaydak’s first missed field goal of the night.

Allar was not asked to throw the ball down the field much throughout the night, however, when he did throw one deep ball to Omari Evans, the ball was underthrown by a decent amount (luckily leading to a pass interference call on Illinois and a Penn State first down).

Allar had bright spots, including in the running game where Allar had an impressive 11 yard run on Penn State’s first touchdown drive and a nine yard pickup on a great read option play in the second half, but had too many inaccurate passes for a quarterback who should receive first round NFL draft buzz by the end of the season.

Ultimately, Allar did plenty for Penn State to pull out the victory because Penn State was able to rely on its ground game for most of the night. Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton combined for 196 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, with Singleton adding two catches for 25 yards on the day. Both Singleton and Allen averaged over 5.5 yards per rush, and Penn State averaged 5.6 yards per rush on 43 carries Saturday night.

Shop The Latest Penn State Gear at Fanatics | Buy Penn State Gear at Amazon

Drew Allar Grade: B-

Penn State’s big win against Illinois could have been even bigger if Drew Allar and the offense operated a little bit more efficiently.

After averaging 12.6 yards per attempt through three games this season, Allar’s yards per attempt against Illinois dipped below his 2023 average to just 6.4 yards per attempt. This shows that Allar and the offense did not push the ball down the field against Illinois, instead opting for short passes and using the running game to keep the sticks moving.

Allar did complete over 71 percent of his passes Saturday night, still a large improvement over his 2023 season average of 59.9. Allar’s QBR for the night was still above 80 at 80.4, keeping him among the nation’s best this season so far. Allar’s 193.6 passer rating ranks sixth in all of college football this season after five weeks.