Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It’s hard to say exactly what former Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Jurcic would have done if he had called a play when the Nittany Lions had the ball with 0:32 left in the second quarter and a seven-point lead on the scoreboard. Yurcic, who was fired by coach James Franklin last November and has come off three consecutive seasons of underperformance, would have lobbied for a ruthless approach, relying on quarterback Drew Alla’s decision-making and wit, and knowing he still had one timeout left and a chance to beat West Virginia for the second time in a row. The result would have been the same. Alla would have scored a last-second touchdown to wide receiver Harrison Wallace III to break the game and dishearten the Mountaineer faithful.
It’s impossible to rule out that scenario, but if you’re a regular Penn State program watcher and fan, you either wonder about the possibility or know better than to open yourself up to the idea of Yurcich, who ranks 110th nationally in 30-plus-yard passing offense in the 2023 class, unleashing such aggression from a disadvantaged position on the field. The three-play, 73-yard lightning-quick drive, which included completions of 55 and 18 yards and ended with a beautiful back-shoulder touchdown from Allar to Wallace, was undoubtedly the work of former Kansas offensive coordinator and current czar of creativity and craftiness for the Nittany Lions, Andy Kotelnicki. It was Kotelnicki’s piece de resistance that allowed his offense to rush the line of scrimmage and sneak West Virginia into a play that ended up being the game’s longest gain.
“I think that’s Coach K,” Alla said. “I think he’s aggressive. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, obviously. He’s really aggressive, but he’s not reckless at all. Any play that he sets up for that type of shot is going to be a play that we’re going to call (all season long). It’s just maybe dressed up a little bit differently. I think that’s the attitude that we want to take as an offense, being aggressive and being intentional about our offense.”
In what was essentially Franklin’s sixth offensive coordinator in 11 seasons, Kotelnicki designed and orchestrated a much more dangerous offense than Penn State typically has when Jurcic is wearing the headset. For the first time in a long time, perhaps since the early days of Franklin’s tenure in Happy Valley, the Nittany Lions found a way to bottle up their explosiveness and distribute it consistently throughout the fourth quarter of their 34-12 win over West Virginia at Milan Puska Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Not even a lengthy weather delay of two hours and 19 minutes could slow down a unit that racked up 457 yards of total offense, averaging eight yards per game and scoring three touchdowns of 20 yards or more.
That, if it builds on that, is the kind of force that could provide Penn State with some much-needed ballast for a defense that has been excellent the past few seasons and has started the 2024 campaign with requisite ferocity even with a new coordinator. The high-scoring Mountaineers didn’t reach the end zone until 12:49 into the fourth quarter, by which time Franklin was ready to pull a starter on both offenses.
“I think we have a chance to be good on both ends,” Franklin said. “I think we have a chance to be more balanced on both ends. And when I talk about balance, I’m talking about the ability to win on the defensive end and the ability to win on the offensive end. And I think there was an example of that today.”
‘We were more explosive’ – Penn State coach James Franklin’s thoughts on offensive performance
The offensive case and Kotelnicki’s creativity that sparked it all started on Penn State’s opening possession when backup quarterback Beau Pribula jogged down the field for a crucial third down, and he beautifully executed an option pitch to tailback Nicholas Singleton (13 carries, 114 yards, 1 TD) that gained seven yards and moved the chains. Pribula was a regular presence on designed quarterback runs (25 yards on three carries) and in multi-quarterback alignments throughout the game. He provides a change-up to the bigger, stockier Allar and will be utilized on a week-to-week basis, according to Franklin, who went so far as to describe Pribula as “a big part of how we move forward.”
And there were other wrinkles that reflected the more dynamic approach Kotelnicki is trying to bring after his impressive performance at Kansas. The Jayhawks ranked fifth nationally in yards per play (7.1) over the past two seasons. There was pre-snap motion where, with four Nittany Lions lined up in a diamond shape on one side of the formation, Singleton drifted toward the sideline and ran across the formation to create space for a 14-yard rifle completion to Wallace. There was a 50-yard touchdown pass from Allar (11 of 17, 216 yards, 3 TDs) to Wallace (five catches, 117 yards, 2 TDs) when the former five-star quarterback, who often struggled to stop vertical passes in 2023, released a brilliantly anticipated throw before the wideouts came out of the break. There was a wildcat alignment with the tailbacks ready to take the snap and the quarterback lining up in space on the right side. The drive featured Allar’s gutsy fourth-down conversion to tight end Tyler Warren, which ended with a touchdown pass to running back Kaytron Allen. Penn State’s opening drive of the second half featured two key scrambles that gained Allar 10 yards each, sucking up the last hope of the 62,084 fans left after heavy rain and lightning passed.
Kotelnicki, who scored Penn State’s last touchdown in the second quarter and its first in the third, scored two touchdowns in less than five minutes to seal the win and extend the visitors’ lead to 21 points, enough to defeat the Mountaineers.
“I thought our guys handled it (the delay) really well. I thought our staff handled it really well. And that reflected in coming out with a touchdown at the start of the second half,” Franklin said. “So those eight points in the middle (the last four minutes of the second quarter and the first four minutes of the third quarter) were probably the two most important things in the game, the end of the first half and the start of the second half.”
Kotelnicki’s offense played its part with great cleanliness and efficiency, and Allar spent most of the fourth quarter on the sideline, watching and cheering on Pribula and other Penn State reserves. He ran onto the field to cheer when sophomore defensive back Elliott Washington II made an interception with 2:37 left to officially seal the win. His postgame celebration included a special handshake with Wallace and a recorded social media message thanking Nittany Lion fans. He then jogged toward the visiting tunnel and the bus that would take Penn State to Happy Valley.
But before he left the stadium, a man in military uniform asked him one last favor.
“Good game, Drew,” the West Virginia state trooper said, pausing from his guard duty. “Can I take a picture?”
This means that Alar and the attacking line did that well.
Michael Cohen Covers college football and basketball on FOX Sports, with a focus on the Big Ten. Follow him @Michael_Cohen13.
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