Michael Cohen

Writer of American football and college basketball

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It’s hard to say exactly what former Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich would have done if he had been the one calling the plays when the Nittany Lions took possession with 0:32 left in the second quarter and the ball was on their own 27-yard line, leading by seven points. Perhaps Yurcich, who was fired by head coach James Franklin last November amid a third straight subpar season, would have lobbied for a relentless approach that relied on the decision-making and agility of quarterback Drew Allar, now a multi-year starter, and pushed the ball downfield knowing he had one more timeout and a chance to put West Virginia in the clear by two scores in quick succession. Maybe the outcome will be the same: a last-second touchdown from Allar to wide receiver Harrison Wallace III to break the game open and silence the Mountaineer faithful.

While it’s impossible to rule out that scenario, frequent observers and fans of the Penn State program know better than to wonder whether it exists than to open themselves up to the idea of ​​Yurcich, whose offense ranked 110th in the nation in passing yards of 30-plus yards in 2023, summoning such militancy from such a disadvantageous position on the field. The lightning-fast, three-play, 73-yard drive, which included completions of 55 yards and 18 yards and ended with a stunning back-shoulder touchdown from Allar to Wallace, was undoubtedly the work of former Kansas offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, now the Nittany Lions’ czar of creativity and craft. Taking his offense to the line of scrimmage and seemingly catching West Virginia off-guard for a play that ended up being the game’s longest gainer was Kotelnicki’s pièce de résistance.

“I think that’s just Coach K,” Allar said. “I think he’s aggressive (and) not in a bad way, obviously. He’s really aggressive, but it’s not reckless at all. All the plays that he sets up for those types of shots are plays that we’re going to call every week (of the season). Maybe it’s just a little bit of a different dress. I think that’s just the attitude that we want to take as an offense, to be aggressive and be intentionally aggressive.”

In what amounted to the formal unveiling of Franklin’s sixth offensive coordinator in 11 seasons, Kotelnicki designed and directed an offense far more dangerous than anything Penn State typically fielded when Yurcich wore the headset. For the first time in a long time — and perhaps not since the early days of Franklin’s tenure in Happy Valley — the Nittany Lions found ways to bottle their explosive gains and dish them out with a consistency that extended from the rushing attack to the passing game, covering all four quarters of Saturday afternoon’s 34-12 victory over West Virginia at Milan Puskar Stadium. Even a prolonged weather delay of two hours and 19 minutes proved powerless to slow a unit that produced 457 yards of total offense and averaged nearly 8 yards per play, three times producing touchdowns of 20 yards or more.

It was the kind of potential that, if built, will give Penn State some much-needed ballast for a defense that has performed admirably in recent seasons and has entered the 2024 season with the requisite ferocity, even with a new coordinator. The scoring-heavy Mountaineers didn’t reach the end zone until the 12:49 mark of the fourth quarter, when Franklin was ready to bring in his starters on both sides of the ball.

“I think we have a chance to be good on both sides of the ball,” Franklin said. “I think we have a chance to be more balanced on both sides of the ball. And when I say balance, I’m talking about being able to win on the defensive side of the ball and being able to win on the offensive side of the ball. And I think there were examples of that today.”

‘We were more explosive’ – Penn State head coach James Franklin’s thoughts on the offensive performance

The offensive examples, and Kotelnicki’s creativity that fueled them, began on Penn State’s opening possession when backup quarterback Beau Pribula raced onto the field for a crucial third down, beautifully executing an option pitch to tailback Nicholas Singleton (13 carries, 114 yards, 1 TD) that gained 7 yards to move the chains. Pribula became a steady presence on designed quarterback runs (three carries for 25 yards) and multi-quarterback formations sprinkled throughout the game. He provides a change of pace to the bigger, more hulking Allar, and Franklin says he’ll be used weekly, with the head coach going so far as to describe Pribula as “a big part of what we do going forward.”

And there were other wrinkles that reflected the more dynamic approach Kotelnicki wants to bring after an impressive tenure at Kansas, where the Jayhawks ranked fifth in the nation in yards per play (7.1) over the past two seasons. There was a pre-snap move in which four Nittany Lions formed a diamond on one side of the formation before Singleton, who had drifted toward the sideline, darted across the formation and created space for a slotted completion to Wallace for 14 yards. There was a 50-yard touchdown pass from Allar (11 of 17 for 216 yards, three TDs) to Wallace (five catches, 117 yards, two TDs) in which the former five-star quarterback, who has often struggled to uncork vertical passes in 2023, unleashed a beautifully anticipated throw before the wideout had even gotten off his break. There was a Wildcat formation in which a tailback prepared to take the snap and a quarterback lined up in space on the right. There was a gutsy fourth-down conversion from Allar to tight end Tyler Warren on a drive that ended with a touchdown pass to running back Kaytron Allen. There were two crucial scrambles by Allar that each went for 10 yards on Penn State’s opening drive of the second half, draining the last bit of hope from whatever percentage of the 62,084 fans remained after the torrential rain and lightning had passed.

By scoring touchdowns on Penn State’s final possession of the second quarter and first possession of the third, Kotelnicki pulled off a two-score knockout in less than five minutes of play, extending the visitors’ lead to 21 points, more than enough to hold off the Mountaineers.

“I thought our guys handled (the delay) really well, I thought our staff handled it really well, and it showed in the fact that they started the second half with a touchdown,” Franklin said. “So those middle-eight scores (in the last four minutes of the second quarter and the first four minutes of the third quarter) were probably the two most significant in the game, the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half.”

Kotelnicki’s offense was so sharp and efficient that Allar spent much of the fourth quarter on the sidelines, watching and cheering for Pribula and Penn State’s other reserves. He ran onto the field to cheer when sophomore defenseman Elliott Washington II made an interception with 2:37 left in the game that officially sealed the win. His postgame celebration included a special handshake with Wallace and recording a social media post thanking the traveling Nittany Lion fans. He then broke into a jog toward the visiting tunnel, toward the buses that would take Penn State back to Happy Valley.

But before he could leave the field, a man in uniform asked him for one last favor.

“Great game, Drew,” said the West Virginia police officer, pausing in his security duties. “Can I take a picture?”

Allar and the attack had played so well.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him on @Michael_Cohen13.

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