Sunday Column: Unexpected QB Change Has Greater Effect — For Both Present and Future — On Offense Than Coordinator Change as Ground Game Comes Alive Against Rutgers

As a young child, I remember watching Penn State dismantle Rutgers quite often and quite thoroughly in Beaver Stadium, and in between series I’d study the Scarlet Knights’ players and coaches in the game program and wonder just what the hell a Rutger was.

Eventually, I learned that Rutgers University, formerly Queen’s College, was re-named in 1825 for Henry Rutgers, a Revolutionary War colonel and philanthropist whose timely donation saved the school from closing for a third time in its young history. I also learned that Rutgers’ remains were lost for several years, which I suppose is either a mundane bit of trivia or an apt metaphor for most of the team’s offensive organization in the years since. Or maybe both.

Which brings us to Saturday’s Rutgers-Penn State contest, which pitted the Scarlet Knights’ run-heavy but aerially deficient attack, led by old friend Kirk Ciarrocca, against the Nittany Lions’, um, shall we say inconsistent attack, led by interim co-OCs Ja’Juan Seider and Ty Howle following Sunday’s unceremonious canning of (Ciarrocca replacement!) Mike Yurcich.

The appeal of this contest to Penn State fans who hadn’t entirely thrown in the towel on the season was to see if a change of leadership would lead to any tangible changes in the offense, which had produced impressive numbers if not aesthetically pleasing football in its eight games not against Michigan and Ohio State and football that was offensive to both the eye and the stat sheet in the games against Michigan and Ohio State.

Early on, the differences were not as numerous as the similarities. Against a stalwart Rutgers defense, the Nittany Lions were limited to short gains on the majority of their gives to backs Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. The receivers again struggled to get separation, and when they did, Drew Allar was often unable to connect (though he did thread a few needles to closely covered targets). Once again, the red zone was a particular disaster, with Penn State coming away with one touchdown, one field goal and one turnover on downs on its first three trips inside the Scarlet Knights’ 5-yard line.

And then, early in the third quarter, Allar left the game with an upper-body injury, and Beau Pribula took his place.

To that point, Penn State had put together 151 yards on just over five drives and 33 plays. The rest of the way, the Nittany Lions totaled 172 yards—all but 9(!!) of them on the ground—on 22 plays and added 17 more points on the remainder of that drive and three more.

Yes, the Nittany Lions, in taking a mildly ironic page from Michigan’s playbook the week before, were stunningly and almost comically one-dimensional. And it worked, in part because Penn State’s defense started playing downhill, came up with three takeaways and put its offense in terrific position in the second half while making sure Rutgers’ defense, which was fundamentally sound but not as dynamic nor as deep as Michigan’s, was on the field for most of the second half and gassed by the end of the game.

The other part, as Penn State continues its in-season search for Yurcich’s replacement, is the intriguing piece. Pribula brings a different element to the running game than Allar (who had his number called more than some might have thought the last two weeks and is more mobile than his frame might suggest). At the same time, he is not the passer that Allar is, or at least he and the coaches — both before Saturday and during — don’t seem to want to try. But with the threat of his legs in zone reads, RPOs, draws or even dropbacks, there is something for the defense to consider that they didn’t have to bother with when Allar was in the game. That opens things up for Allen (16 carries, 69 yards, two touchdowns) and Singleton (11-61).

On the one hand, you don’t want to be a one-dimensional offense. On the other, with how bumbling the Penn State passing attack has been for much of the year, especially in the big games, you could easily argue the Nittany Lions weren’t any more one-dimensional when they showed no interest in throwing than when they dropped Allar back 40-plus times against Ohio State.

If Allar’s right arm or shoulder isn’t ready to go next week or even by late December/early January, we will likely see more of the same against Michigan State and the bowl opponent. Pribula might and probably ought to throw the ball a few times here and there, but it will be a ground-based approach. Is that an option the Nittany Lions should have considered more this season, especially for the two games it lost? Perhaps, though it’s incredibly hard to score against a defense like Ohio State’s or Michigan’s if you don’t have at least the threat of the pass.

James Franklin can play the what-if game if he so chooses, but it’s more likely he will have his eye on the merits and risks of this type of strategy moving forward. In his 10 seasons at Penn State, the Nittany Lions have had more success with quarterbacks who could move than with taller, less mobile gunslingers. Will he look to find an offensive coordinator who can lean into that, or at least be able to pivot to that style of offense if the wide receiver situation doesn’t immediately improve? Or will the priority be continuing to build around Allar and finding ways to unlock his arm talent and, in turn, the explosive plays that eluded this team all season?

Franklin would likely say he wants all of those things, and maybe Penn State lands a guy that, with some help from some needed roster upgrades, can get his offense there, to a place where they can run it 45 times to win 21-17 one week and throw it 45 times to win 38-35 the next. Given its current state of offensive competence, Penn State is probably a long way from THAT universe, but might not be too far from a universe that resembles what Pribula and his backs did in the second half against a tough but tiring defense. It’ll be something for Franklin to think about as he continues the OC search that he might not have had to consider if Allar had been able to finish the game.