When the heat came knocking on fourth-and-ten against USC, James Franklin‘s quarterback didn’t flinch; he slipped the noose, deftly avoided a sack, and hit Julian Fleming for a crucial gain, transforming a potential disaster into a thunderclap moment. Drew Allar later confessed he might have crumbled under that pressure a year ago, but this time, he seized the opportunity, making a statement. Since then, he’s accelerated his development, overcoming injuries and self-doubt with ease. With each play, he refines his skills, improving consistently. Sure, the Notre Dame game ended poorly, but one slip doesn’t dull his shine. In his third year, Allar is blowing the hinges off, and it’s already catching attention.Well, Drew Allar sure had an impressive run last season, throwing for 3,327 yards, 24 TDs, and just 8 interceptions with a 66.5% completion rate. His journey wasn’t that straight. During Penn State’s game against Wisconsin, Allar suffered a left knee injury, but then he came back for their crucial game against Ohio State. But the real challenge came against Notre Dame; Penn State needed Allar to orchestrate a final drive culminating in a game-winning field goal attempt. He was meant to have his breakthrough moment: guiding Penn State to the national title game, a feat not accomplished since 1986. But then, instead of a storybook ending, Allar threw a costly interception.Now, all that hustle looks worth it, as Drew Allar isn’t just improving; he is also becoming a better version of himself. And when the host of Nittany Sports Now asked Penn State’s OC Andy Kotelnicki about his development, “Physically, how is Drew Allar different now than he was in January?” Andy didn’t mince words. He landed all the doubters with nothing but a positive update: “Ask him to flex next time you see him,” Andy Kotelnicki said. “You’ll see. He almost caught me. Almost as good-looking as I am.” That’s no fluff.Drew Allar’s impressive first season under offensive coordinator Kotelnicki saw him complete 71.6% of his passes during the regular season. Postseason accuracy dipped, with just 51.3% against Oregon in the Big Ten title game loss and 26 of 47 passes in College Football Playoff wins over SMU and Boise State. Despite this, he threw three touchdowns against both Oregon and Boise State, showcasing his clutch red-zone ability.Physically, how is Drew Allar different now than he was in January?“Ask him to flex next time you see him,” Andy Kotelnicki said. “You’ll see. He almost caught me. Almost as good looking as I am.”— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) June 5, 2025But Allar offers more than just accuracy. Kotelnicki lauded his quarterback’s grasp of the offense, crediting his high football intelligence for expanding the team’s strategic options. “We can do all that stuff, because Drew allows us to do that stuff,” Kotelnicki said. “He’s got a big brain, and he loves football and all the things that are required to be the quarterback. But then his understanding of where the ball’s going and why, his coachability has really started to take off. It’s A to Z now. Before, it was just kind of A to M.”After improving his completion percentage from 59.9% in 2023 to 67.4% this season, Allar announced his return to Penn State in 2025, foregoing the NFL draft. This decision solidifies his status as a top quarterback prospect. So, let’s wait and see if his decision works in James Franklin’s team’s favour or not this year. Because Franklin sure has some strong opinions on playoff expansion.James Franklin’s tough admission on playoff expansionAmidst the ongoing debate over expanding the college football playoff and granting automatic bids to conference champions, Penn State’s James Franklin is advocating for a different approach: a fairer, more objective selection process. He’s particularly focused on leveling the playing field between the Big Ten and SEC. Franklin’s key proposal? Uniformity. “The most important thing that can happen is all the commissioners getting together, or a commissioner of college football getting everybody together and saying, look everybody’s going to be the same,” He argues that consistent scheduling would significantly simplify team evaluations.The current disparity—nine conference games in the Big Ten versus eight in the SEC—is a major point of contention, especially with the playoff system in place. Franklin believes standardized schedules and championship formats would result in more accurate rankings. “We’re all going to play the same number of conference games, we’re all going to play the same number of games. We’re all going to play a conference championship game or not. Then I think that would help,” he explained, “that would be a huge help.” Ultimately, he wants playoff contenders judged by the same standards.Franklin highlights the uncertainty surrounding conference championship weekend. The playoff expansion fuels debate about replacing traditional title games with CFP play-in games. He advocates for consistent, fair formats, opposing structural advantages or disadvantages beyond teams’ control. These evolving approaches to conference seasons and championships intensify the ongoing debate.Ranking methods are also under scrutiny, a topic James Franklin readily addresses. He criticizes the current committee-based system as inherently flawed due to human bias. He suggests returning to a more statistically driven model, similar to the BCS era. “The problem is, everybody voting, and everybody involved in the process, whether you want to be biased or not, we all are biased,” For James Franklin, any system will be perfect, but he leans toward removing as much subjectivity as possible.James Franklin went further, acknowledging flaws in the BCS formula while also arguing that its objectivity was an advantage. “So I think in a lot of ways you could make the argument a formula could be better, but we didn’t love the formula, so we went to this other system,” Franklin said. Now, how the changes unfold is still unknown, but James Franklin’s pretty clear on how he wants to shape the playoffs.The post Penn State Staffer’s Big Drew Allar Health Admission After James Franklin’s Clear Message on Playoff Expansion appeared first on EssentiallySports.