With spring football in full gear it is prediction and speculation time for programs and media alike. CBS Sports recently posted a question each Big Ten team is facing as they head into the spring football schedule and the coinciding games with the upcoming football season.
For teams like Ohio State and Michigan, the questions focused on the defense as they seem to have the offense figured out. As for Penn State, the quarterback position continues to be a hot-button topic. The Big Ten isn’t known for having great quarterback play but when the big boys like Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State have theirs figured out, you need to make sure you do as well.
Presently, the Nittany Lions don’t seem to have a solid footing if you ask the media and fans.
Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports cites the play of [autotag]Sean Clifford[/autotag] in recent years being “serviceable” and the arrival of [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] making things interesting. Without the arrival of Allar, there probably isn’t much to discuss if you are [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] and his staff, but in a critical year it may present a unique conversation.
The Big Ten seems to be involved with the rest of college football where it has gone from hard-nosed defense and run game being king to now quarterback play is where you live and die. This is another point that Fornelli discusses in his piece:
“The passing attack hasn’t been great overall. It’ll be interesting to see how this dynamic plays out over the spring, summer and into the fall.”
The first couple of games of the year are usually when teams get to put in recruits and younger players in because they play FCS opponents. But Penn State is in some rare company this year as they have no FCS teams on the schedule. So unless they blowout or struggle against Purdue, Ohio, and Central Michigan early in the year, we may not see Allar much, if at all.
I doubt we see Allar make any debuts or significant playing time against the heart of the Big Ten schedule but again, as Fornelli puts it, that is what makes things interesting heading into the year.
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