MIAMI — Drew Allar tried to fight back tears. Penn State’s quarterback weaved through the depths of Hard Rock Stadium, stepping over the heaps of blue and gold confetti that paved the way to Notre Dame’s locker room.
Allar took a deep breath as he neared the podium.
He tried so hard to be everything that everybody wanted him to be: the five-star prospect who was supposed to step up in critical moments and lead the program to a national championship. Like his teammates in Penn State’s locker room, where players went one by one down the stalls of lockers and hugged for a final time this season, he was still in shock after the 27-24 loss Thursday night in the College Football Playoff semifinals in the Orange Bowl.
The player who found his voice and became a leader didn’t get the feel-good ending this team and this fan base came to Miami for.
“It wasn’t good enough,” Allar said. “I think it’s plain and simple.”
Penn State needed Allar to drive it down the field to get in position for a game-winning field goal. What was supposed to be his moment, his coronation as the quarterback who could finally get this program back to a national championship game for the first time since 1986, instead ended with an interception that will be seared in the minds of Penn State fans for years.
A career-defining moment turned into Allar peeling himself off the ground, hands on his helmet, his mouth agape. With 33 seconds left, Allar’s errant throw, intercepted by Notre Dame’s Christian Gray at the Penn State 42-yard line, instead set up the Irish for a field goal to win the game advance to the title game.
Allar completed 12 of 23 passes for 135 yards, far from the stat line expected of one of the best college quarterbacks, who plans to return to Penn State for his senior season.
“I was going through my progression, got to the backside and honestly I was just trying to dirt it at his feet,” Allar said. “I should’ve just thrown it away when I felt the first two progressions not open just because of the situation we were in. … Just didn’t execute what I was trying to do.”
As Allar’s tears flowed postgame, Penn State coach James Franklin gave his quarterback a pat on the leg and told him he was still proud of him. Penn State’s first ever appearance in the Playoff, one that included wins against SMU and Boise State, concluded with the kind of gut punch that Penn State fans know all too well.
“We played our tails off tonight, obviously we made too many mistakes that were costly,” Franklin said. “We’ll learn from this, and we’ll be better.”
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All month, Penn State’s coaches said there were four to five plays that would define these games. In this one, Penn State ended up with a familiar script and another agonizing, all-too-familiar outcome. Even with a Nittany Lions roster that was built around a group of third-year players, even with the best quarterback prospect this school has had, even with the most favorable Playoff path of all 12 teams, Penn State couldn’t complete the final drive to punch its ticket to the national championship game.
“The first part is getting over the hump and winning these type of games,” running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider said as he leaned against a wall in the locker room. “(We have to be) able to finish at the end. I mean, we’re so close. We said we can’t let bad ball beat us, and it caught up to us at the end.”
The Nittany Lions had their chances to change the narratives that have haunted this program during Franklin’s 11-season tenure. At Penn State, Franklin is 1-15 versus AP top-five opponents. This program can add another painful loss to the ledger in a game where it led by two possessions.
Penn State’s 10-0 lead late in the first half was similar to the 10-0 lead it had in October before falling against Ohio State. PSU had opportunities to slam the door, but the offense flatlined in the third quarter, running just seven plays that netted 25 yards. An offense that vowed to be aggressive this postseason punted on fourth-and-3 from the Penn State 32 with 2:34 remaining. It also settled for a 20-yard field goal in the first quarter after failing to score a touchdown from first-and-4 from the 4. That sequence was eerily similar to a goal-line fiasco against Ohio State.
“It was a defensive battle, a field position game,” said offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki. “(The punt) was coach’s call, and it’s totally the right thing to do.”
Kotelnicki put some of the blame on himself. Penn State converted 3 of 11 third downs. No Penn State wide receiver caught a pass all game, to which he said he needs to scheme better plays to get them open. While Penn State was running the ball at will in the first half and winning up front, Notre Dame’s receiving corps stepped up while Penn State’s receivers were often blanketed. That theme was similar to the one that played out in the Peach Bowl loss last year to Ole Miss and against Ohio State this year. Receivers coach Marques Hagans started straight ahead in the locker room while wide receiver Omari Evans sat next to him with the same look.
Penn State was stunned that somehow, someway it wasn’t able to land a blow against a Notre Dame team that was shorthanded due to injuries. Two Allar interceptions had been overturned because of penalties. A strip sack recovery attempt didn’t bounce Penn State’s way. A Nittany Lions defense that was stellar for most of the season came up with two takeaways, including an interception from defensive end Dani Dennis-Sutton early in the fourth quarter. But cornerback Cam Miller slipped and fell as Notre Dame ripped off a 54-yard touchdown reception from Riley Leonard to Jaden Greathouse to tie the score with 4:38 to play.
“My heart just breaks for Cam because you know he’s beating himself up,” said defensive coordinator Tom Allen. “Cam’s an amazing person, great player. Does everything right. And I told him that one play doesn’t doesn’t define you, doesn’t define the game.”
All the little moments collectively led Penn State here, dejected in a locker room where tears were met with hugs and reminders that what was accomplished this season in due time will be remembered too.
For tonight though, Allar, like everyone else on the roster, sat with the pain. He rehashed the interception while running back Nick Singleton stormed out of the locker room briefly, only to take a breath and step back inside.
Getting back to this point is never guaranteed. Getting beyond the CFP semifinals will be what drives this team as it heads back to State College and into a long offseason.
“You appreciate the opportunity to be here, but it don’t mean anything if you don’t finish,” Seider said. “And we didn’t finish.”
(Photo of Drew Allar: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
