Franklin, Allar both leave legacy of failing when stakes were high
PSU Point/Counterpoint: Your biggest takeaway from the James Franklin firing is what?
Trending
Which came first in this chicken-or-egg scenario: James Franklin failed Drew Allar? Or Drew Allar failed James Franklin?
The answer, undoubtedly, is both. And ultimately, the failed marriage between those two --- from player development, to performance, to trust, to overall scheme --- is why Franklin flopped so badly that it led to his ouster from Penn State.
To be clear, I do not think Allar is a very good quarterback. I don't write those words with any kind of personal malice, particularly in light of him suffering a season-ending injury. Allar is a good young man, and I wish him all the best personally and professionally.
But from a sheer football production and eye test standpoint, he never came close to living up to the enormous hype he brought to campus as the No. 1 pro-style QB prospect in the country.
Allar's legacy will be that he was horrible in big games and big moments. Throughout PSU football history, you will not find a quarterback who played as poorly as Allar did in so many big games, up to and including some truly godawful interceptions that ended the Lions' hopes against Oregon and Notre Dame last season, then Oregon in double-OT this season.
Franklin did not throw those horrific interceptions. Allar did.
Those interceptions crushed Penn State.
And they crushed Franklin's career.
So, there's plenty of reason to blame what's happened to the Lions on the quarterback who was supposed to elevate the program to new heights, but it's not all Allar's fault.
Because from my view, Franklin set Allar up to fail from the very beginning.
The coach brought in an awesome QB recruit but inserted him into an offense that had lousy wide receivers. What kind of coach fails so miserably to understand the basic concept that a guy like Allar needs to be surrounded with weapons on the outside?
Franklin knew he didn't have those weapons, so he developed a truly terrible offensive strategy. He decided to turn Allar into nothing more than a game manager, instilling in him from day one to never take chances and to predominantly throw short, safe passes so they wouldn't turn the ball over.
You can win a lot of games that way when you have an awesome defense, which Penn State has had.
But the glaring problem with that approach is that Allar was never allowed to fully develop his immense skill set. So, when it came time for him to actually win games with big-time throws, he didn't have the background or the experience or the wherewithal or the confidence to do so.
All of it caught up to Franklin and Allar in the big games and big moments.
For all we know, Allar was never all that good to begin with, and Franklin knew it from watching practice, so the coach kept the passing game simple.
But I tend to believe that, given the right set of weapons and offensive philosophy and trust from the coach, Allar would have turned out a lot differently.
Franklin's inability to attract and develop quality wide receivers was, in itself, a fireable offense.
Allar's inability to hit open receivers on short passes is clearly his own fault, and while he can sling the ball a country mile, he's never been all that accurate on deep balls, either.
These two egregiously failed each other, and that ultimately doomed Penn State in big moments when it mattered most.
Cory Giger hosts the new Blue & White Wrapup show following each Penn State game this season on 96.9 and 100.7 FM.