At about the worst possible time, Drew Allar fired a tad too high.
With less than a minute left in a tie game in Thursday’s College Football Playoff semifinal, the Penn State sophomore quarterback scanned the field and saw no one open.
And that’s when an entire season changed.
Allar made the fateful decision to throw cross-body to a receiver Omari Evans the middle of the field, only for the pass to end up too far off the ground and in arms of Notre Dame cornerback Christian Gray.
Several minutes later, the Fighting Irish secured a 27-24 win to end Penn State’s hopes of winning a national title and left Allar batting tears in his postgame press conference.
“I was going through my progression, got to the backside and, honestly, I was just trying to throw it at his feet,” Allar said of his interception with 33 seconds remaining, “but I should have just thrown it away when I felt the first two progressions not open, just because of the situation we were in, but I was just trying to dirt it at Amari’s feet, but just didn’t execute what I was trying to do.”
A game that began with some wondering if Allar could play his way into top 10 of the 2025 NFL Draft instead will be remembered for the one horrific throw he made in the crushing loss.
Allar did not play particularly well Thursday, completing just 12-of-23 passes for 135 yards and one interception with two others waived off, but he found himself in a position to win the game.
Penn State opted to go for the win instead of just running out the clock when it received the ball with less than a minute left, with Allar looking to pass on a second-and-2 at Penn State’s 28.
In a moment that could have potentially helped his draft stock, Allar instead bounced around the pocket before making a poor decision.
Penn State’s receivers did not tally a single catch all night, yet he threw toward Evans in single coverage. Even if he meant to throw the ball into the ground, the sideline was the safer choice.
Allar held his hands on his helmet after the shocking turnover, which offensive coordinator Penn State Andy Kotelnicki said the quarterback should not blame himself for, per Sports Illustrated.
“It was a huge mistake by Drew Allar,” commentator Greg McElroy said. “Works all the way back and you can never throw a line over the middle, it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. You want to make a play for your team, but you cannot throw it blind from that far away.’
Allar previously announced he plans to return to Happy Valley for the 2025 season and Thursday’s game likely did not help his draft stock, especially since quarterback-needy teams saw how he operated with the game on the line and how it all went so wrong for the Nittany Lions.
He described his performance as “not good enough” and said he will use it as a learning experience.
The sophomore teared up while discussing his season.
“I learned a lot about myself, and I think it’s a credit to the coaching staff for just allowing me to be me. I think I grew a lot, on the field, off the field,” Allar said. “Just looking forward to continuing to grow, learn more about myself, get better in any way I can, on the field, off the field. Just looking forward to the opportunity. Definitely going to learn from this and move on and take it on the chin right now.
Penn State coach James Franklin believes Allar will bounce back.
“He’ll handle it great. He’ll be hurting tonight and he’ll be hurting tomorrow and he’ll hurt a little bit less the next day and so on and so forth,” Franklin said. “But he’s a committed guy that’s going to do it the right way, and he said it. It may not feel like it right now, but he’ll learn from this and he’ll be better for it, and so will we.”