James Franklin, Drew Allar reflect on Penn State finishing with double digit wins for 2nd-straight year
Penn State wrapped up the regular season with a 42-0 thrashing of Michigan State at Ford Field to roll out to 10-2. And it marks the second-straight year that the Nittany Lions will have turned in double digit wins to finish the year.
It’s an accomplishment that hasn’t been lost on first-year starting quarterback Drew Allar, who spent 2022 as a backup, or head coach James Franklin. The latter explained that the senior class, playing a final regular season game on Thursday, deserved a fair chunk of the credit.
“They’ve been phenomenal. They’ve kind of seen it all and done it all here at Penn State. Rose Bowl win, Covid, back-to-back double-digit win seasons, they’ve done some really good things,” Franklin said to NBC Sports’ Kathryn Tappen during his postgame interview. “Obviously we’ve gotta take a step, but they’ve laid a foundation for us in the future.”
Allar concurred and shared his joy in sending off the group with a win.
“They’ve been reason why we’ve been so successful these past couple years and to send them off on a note like this is something that we take pride in,” Allar said.
It was also a strong offensive showing for Penn State after a season of fits and starts.
Allar went 17-of-26 for 292 yards and two touchdowns while the running back tandem of Nick Singleton and Kaytron “Fatman” Allen carried a combined 33 times for 255 yards and a touchdown.
With a pair of interim offensive coordinators calling the shots — tight ends coach Ty Howle and running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider — Allar felt the offensive clicked into a solid rhythm.
“I think the whole offensive staff did a great job of getting us all, as players, all on the same page. Coach Howle, Coach Seider did a great job tonight getting me in a rhythm. I think that really helped the whole offense, especially when Fat or Nick started breaking off those explosive runs for us. And the O line did a great job both in pass pro today and just run blocking,” Allar said.
At 10-2 and a potential Top 10 ranking in the final College Football Playoff rankings of the season in a little over the week, Penn State is potentially in line for a New Years Six bowl berth — the Nittany Lions won the Rose Bowl last year.
With the destination unknown, still, Penn State players and coaches are happy to have won 10 game to be in this position, even if it’s slightly short of some loftier goals.
“It’s a huge relief. I know outsiders will say we didn’t do good enough this year, but there’s not many teams across the country that win 10 games back-to-back years and we have a great opportunity to hopefully go into a great bowl game and see what we can do from there,” Allar said.