As he stood on the sideline Saturday night, rubbing his eyes and hugging his coaches, quarterback Drew Allar carried Penn State’s playoff hopes in his knee brace. Then, fellow quarterback Beau Pribula led the Nittany Lions on a second-half tour of Camp Randall Stadium, which was a 28-13 win over Wisconsin that brought the College Football Playoff closer and closer to State College. But now the quarterback becomes an even more compelling storyline when Penn State hosts Ohio State on Nov. 2 at Beaver Stadium.

Allar, who left Saturday’s game at Wisconsin before halftime with an apparent knee injury, will continue the weeklong conversation about Penn State’s offense. Don’t expect Penn State coach James Franklin to say much, though, especially considering the way Pribula played in the second half against the Badgers. The redshirt sophomore completed 11 of 13 passes, one for a touchdown, and made a number of nerve-wracking throws that spun Wisconsin around. Franklin will want Ohio State coach Ryan Day to be as reluctant to see Pribula as Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell was on Saturday.

“Give them credit. They did a really good job with Pribula in the second half and caused some problems,” Fickell said. “As much as they make you prepare for so many things, if he actually gets into the game, it’s going to be a little bit of a different game that has caused us some problems. You give them credit for having a plan for when he’s there, and I don’t think we did a good enough job of making sure we understood what he was going to do. He also threw the football pretty well in the second half, he made some plays that were really big.”

Allar also made some plays in the first half, completing 14 of 16 passes before picking up a sack late in the second quarter. Allar was visibly limping as he threw two incompletions and headed to the locker room before the half was over. He emerged to warm up but ended up standing on the sideline, wearing a knee brace and getting a pep talk from quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien. Franklin said he told NBC that Allar would return for the third quarter, but that plan changed during warmups.

“(The decision) was, is he going to be mobile enough to give us the opportunity to run the offense the way we need to run the offense? It really came down to Drew,” Franklin told reporters after the game. “… After we got there and they loosened up a little bit, Drew told me he couldn’t go. … I asked (Drew) to be very, very honest with me. He just didn’t feel like He could move well enough to go. Even at the end of the half you could see that even throwing was a challenge.’

Allar, a team captain, spent the second half with O’Brien and an iPad, communicating in-game information with Pribula. He cheered more than anyone when Pribula made ten consecutive passes in the second half. Franklin had praised Pribula for being unselfish during his three seasons at Penn State and extended that description to Allar.

‘I think that’s the most important thing. That has to do with selflessness,” Franklin said. “Drew, you are a leader for us, and even though you are not in the role you envisioned, we need you. How you carry yourself, how you conduct yourself, how you help Beau, all that will happen. crucial. We can’t do this without you.’ That was something we discussed in the locker room, even before we went out (for the second half).”

Now, however, Penn State shifts its attention to Ohio State, a game Allar is certainly looking forward to. Last season, the Ohio native worked in the Nittany Lions’ 20-12 loss to the Buckeyes, a game in which Allar went 18-for-42 for 191 yards and at one point was 10-for-30. After the match, an emotional Allar said he was ‘bad’.

“We talk about everything as blessings and lessons in life,” Allar said through tears after the game. “Obviously we lost the game, but this is a lesson for us and we have to learn from it because I never want to feel like that again.”

Meanwhile, Ohio State quarterback Will Howard explained Saturday how much he’s looking forward to the Buckeyes’ trip to Penn State. Howard, who played high school football at Downingtown West High in Pennsylvania, said yes “stoked” for the game.

“I grew up a Penn State fan,” Howard said after the Buckeyes’ win over Nebraska. “I’ve wanted to go there all my life. They didn’t think I was good enough, but I guess we’ll see next week if I am.”

More Penn State football

Without Drew Allar, Penn State is in contention to beat Wisconsin

What they said after the Penn State-Wisconsin game

The Penn State vs. Wisconsin Report