Joel Klatt: Penn State Needs to Change Offensive System to Get Over Hump

It’s clear something has to change at Penn State after the Nittany Lions’ double-overtime loss to Oregon on Saturday, and Joel Klatt believes the answer is adjusting the offensive system to better capitalize on quarterback Drew Allar’s strengths. 

“The marriage between Allar’s skill set and [offensive coordinator Andy] Kotelnicki’s system is not right, and it needs to change,” he said on a recent episode of “The Joel Klatt Show.” “I’m not saying there needs to be a change from a personnel standpoint. What I am saying, though, is that this system needs to morph and be a system that’s catered more for Drew Allar, rather than Drew Allar trying to execute this certain system.”

Allar, who entered the season with high expectations as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, struggled to deliver in key moments of the 30-24 loss. He completed 14 of 25 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns, but his interception in the second overtime ultimately sealed the win for Oregon.

On top of Allar’s struggles, Penn State’s offense had a rough day for the first three-plus quarters. After Oregon took a 17-3 lead early in the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions’ offense finally came alive when Allar connected with wide receiver Devonte Ross on a deep ball for a 35-yard touchdown. 

Klatt is convinced that allowing Allar to air the ball out rather than throwing intermediate passes would be better for Penn State. 

“There’s far too much short area RPO stuff going on in their passing game,” Klatt said. “[Allar] is not a quick-release passer. He doesn’t have terribly quick feet, but that doesn’t mean that he’s a bad player. It does mean that — because he doesn’t have those features — he’s not going to be as accurate when you’re asking him to do those things. 

“When you actually sit him in the pocket and let him fire the football down the field — deep over routes, deep down the field, straight down the field — that looks beautiful because it fits the skill set of the quarterback. If your system is not quarterback-friendly, then you need a new system. And if your system doesn’t fit the quarterback that you have, then you need to change it, not wholesale, but tweaks, absolutely.”

Allar has had good success throwing the deep ball in college. He has thrown three touchdown passes on throws that traveled at least 20 yards downfield this season, but he only has nine such throws this year, per Pro Football Focus. Those numbers were even better for Allar last year. He completed 22 of 45 such passes (third in the Big Ten) for 701 yards (fifth in the Big Ten) and 11 touchdowns (best in the Big Ten), according to PFF.

As the numbers suggest that Allar should be airing it out more, Klatt believes that isn’t the only change that Kotelnicki needs to make in order to get the most out of his quarterback. 

“As great as that fourth quarter comeback was, it was a lot of creativity and misdirection,” Klatt said. “You’re having to use Drew Allar as a runner. He’s fine as a scrambler. In fact, straight up the field as a scrambler, he does just fine. But that’s not how you’re going to go and win a national championship or a Big Ten championship. You can’t do it with misdirection, and you can’t do it with smoke and mirrors. 

“You’ve got to have a system that features him. It needs to be more downhill running. It needs to be more downfield passing, letting him do that, and threatening the defense, getting the safeties away. If those things start to happen, then I think they can play a lot better.”

Allar helped provide some life in the ground game for Penn State, as its star RB duo of Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton was mostly slowed down, going for 42 yards on nine carries. Allar has yet to rush for a touchdown and only has 69 rushing yards through the first four games this year after rushing for 302 yards and six touchdowns last year.

Kaytron Allen rushed for 54 yards and a touchdown for Penn State against Oregon, while Nicholas Singleton only rushed for 21 yards on 11 carries. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Ultimately, Allar will have to improve his numbers in order to help Penn State break its skid against top-10 opponents. Klatt believes that he can and that Penn State might be able to right the ship, pointing to the defensive adjustments Ohio State made after its loss to Oregon last season before winning the national championship. 

That means the entire Penn State program has to face some tough realities in order to get there, though.

“If you’re going to make this happen, you have to look at what’s the way you work through this,” Klatt said. ” It comes down to competitive character and honesty with yourself. Do you have enough in you to evaluate yourself honestly?

“Well, Penn State’s gonna find out. Here’s what I think happened last year with Ohio State: They were able to evaluate themselves honestly, and they got better because of their losses, which led to the national championship. What hasn’t happened with Penn State over these 15 losses over the last nine years to top-10 opponents in the regular season is that we haven’t seen anything change.”

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