STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Drew Allar came back to Penn State for his senior season determined lead the Nittany Lions to a national championship.
Now, with hopes of bringing the Nittany Lions their first NCAA title since 1986 gone after a third straight loss, the strong-armed quarterback will have to watch from the sidelines the rest of the way.
Allar suffered an apparent leg injury on a third-down play late in Penn State’s 22-21 loss to Northwestern on Saturday. He limped off the field with help, was replaced by backup Ethan Grunkemeyer and ruled out for the rest of the season.
“Drew will be done for the year,” Penn State coach James Franklin said.
Allar’s injury — which the team did not specify — capped a three-week stretch in which the Nittany Lions fell from No. 2 in the Top 25 after losing in overtime at home to No. 3 Oregon, getting pounded by a previously winless UCLA team last week and being outplayed by Northwestern in front of another restless crowd at Beaver Stadium.
The crowd was noticeably smaller, too, as large sections of the vaunted, 40,000-seat student section were barren all day.
Wide receiver Devonte Ross, who transferred to Penn State last summer to play with Allar, was sullen afterward.
“I love Drew,” Ross said. “That’s unfortunate. It’s a tough situation just knowing him as a person and knowing how much football means to him, how much this team means to him, it’s tough but I know it’s next man up.”
The Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), will have to find some answers and will now turn to Grunkemeyer to try to lead them to a bowl game.
They have to play at Iowa next week and still have trips to No. 1 Ohio State and Michigan State. A home game against No. 7 Indiana looms too.
Allar ends his Penn State career fourth on the school’s career passing yardage list with 7,265 yards on 620-for-982 passing with 61 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
He also carried the ball 218 times for 711 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“Ultimately it’s about the guys” Franklin said. “It’s about the guys in the locker room and they’re hurting. I’d do anything I could to take that hurt away from them, but like I told them, we’ve got to stick together, we’ve got to tune out all the noise and we’ve got to get to work.”
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