Hudson, Hudson, Singleton.
Hudson (incomplete).
Peña, Peña, Hudson, Peña, Singleton, Singleton, Hudson, Reynolds.
Hudson (incomplete), Peña (incomplete).
Reynolds, Ross, Hudson (touchdown), Peña, Peña, Hudson, Peña, Allen, Peña, Singleton.
Singleton (incomplete).
Allen.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Penn State quarterback Drew Allar’s day against Nevada on Saturday in Beaver Stadium, where the No. 2 Nittany Lions defeated Nevada, 46-11.
Allar, now in his third and final season as Penn State’s starting quarterback, completed 22 of 26 passes for 217 yards, with zero interceptions and just one sack (for all of two yards, and another step and it would have been a positive gainer). He added six carries for 20 yards, for good measure.
A good bit of the credit goes to two of Allar’s new transfer wide receivers. Trebor Peña (Syracuse) had seven catches for 74 yards, while Kyron Hudson (USC) had six receptions for 89 yards and a 31-yard TD. The new guys are real. And they’re spectacular. At least compared to the wide receiver crew that Allar had to work with in 2024.
Against Nevada, Allar had stretches of eight and then 10 consecutive complete passes, in the middle of the game, sandwiched between two incompletions that equaled an impressive 18 for 20 (90%).
“It’s like being in a zone,” Allar told me on Saturday. “A credit to the O staff for putting us in those positions and preparing us throughout the week. The O-line gave me time to sit back and survey the defense and the receivers did a great job of getting open.
“Honestly, that made it easy. Because a lot of those completions were probably within my first two reads, which makes it easier, not always have to reset back side and stay in rhythm.”
Sounds like the opposite of what happened in the final seconds in the CFP Orange Bowl game against Notre Dame, when Allar went through his progressions, searching and searching for an open receiver. He then forced it inside when no one was open — and a fatal interception by the Fighting Irish was the result.
Against Nevada, Allar completed 86.4% of his passes against — the fifth time in his Penn State career he has completed over 75% of his passes in a single game. (With the win on Saturday, he is 24-6 as a starter, for a winning percentage of 80%). Those games, with nary a pick in any of them:
Purdue, 2024 (W) — 17 of 19 (89.5%), 247 yds, 3 TDs
Nevada, 2025 (W) — 22 of 26 (84.6%), 217 yds., 1 TD
Delaware, 2023 (W) — 22 of 26 (84.6%), 204 yds., 1 TD
Kent State, 2024 (W) — 17 of 21 (81%), 309 yds., 3 TDs
Wisconsin, 2024 (W) — 14 of 18 (77.8%) 148 yds., 0 TDs
Allar has been flirting with the all-time Penn State record for completion percentage in a game, which is 91.7%, set in 1963 by Pete Liske at Oregon in a 17-7 victory. The single-season record is 66.7%, set by Kerry Collins in the historic 1994 season. And, right now, Allar is the Nittany Lions’ career leader in completion percentage, at 63.5%.
With the loss of security blanket and tight end Tyler Warren, who had a Penn State record 104 receptions in 2024, Allar has great confidence in his receiving corps. And why not? When you add in Devonte Ross — a third transfer this season from Troy who is slowly returning to form after a summer camp injury — the trio of Pena-Hudson-Ross came to Penn State with a combined 310 receptions for 3,637 yards and 32 TDs.
A LOSS FOR COMPLETIONS
That’s the good news. Here is Allar’s challenge: He needs to take what he did against Nevada and Purdue and Delaware and Kent State and do it in the biggest games of his college life in 2025 — still to be played. A White Out vs. Oregon. Back home in Ohio in The Horseshoe. In a potential Big Ten title game. And in the College Football Playoff.
Those have been his waterloo.
In Penn State’s three losses in 2023 vs. Ohio State, Michigan and Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, he completed just 45.6% of his passes (47 of 103).
And in Penn State’s three losses in 2024 vs. Ohio State, Oregon in the Big Ten title game and Notre Dame in the semifinals, he completed just 53.6% of his passes (44 of 82).
That’s six losses and a combined completion rate of 49.2%.
The 2025 season is offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s Year 2 at Penn State, and Allar said he already feels things are different. With Kotelnicki, with Penn State’s offensive identity, with the array of options that the QB and OC both have. And — this may be most important — with who they can trust.
“Coach K knows our strengths as an offense, and what was working for us throughout the game,” Allar said. “One thing that Coach K knows is just who we are as an offense. I think that last year maybe we still had questions going into the year of who we really wanted to be or who we could really, really rely on.”
Not now.
“I don’t think we really have had those thoughts or issues this year,” Allar said. “I think it just makes our game-planning a lot easier.”
