Drew Allar or Beau Pribula? Fans wonder if Penn State kept the wrong QB
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For 3 years at Penn State, Beau Pribula sat and waited. In 2022, he was buried on the depth chart and watched Sean Clifford lead the Nittany Lions to a Rose Bowl. In 2023, after Clifford left and Drew Allar took over, Pribula backed up the former 5-star recruit. In 2024, Pribula played the role of QB2 again as Allar led Penn State to a Big Ten title game appearance and a College Football Playoff semifinal appearance.
With Allar’s decision to return in 2025 and Pribula facing another year of sitting, he did what any quarterback would do. He sought his own opportunity.
Mizzou‘s gain.
Penn State’s loss.
With the Tigers rolling UMass to move to 5-0 under Pribula’s guidance, and Allar struggling on Saturday against Oregon in a battle of top-6 teams, the comparison was impossible to ignore. Did Penn State make the right decision at quarterback? Did James Franklin let the wrong quarterback walk out the door? Plenty of folks on social media seemed to think so on Saturday.
Pribula completed 26 of his 29 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown before getting an early curtain call. Entering Week 5, Pribula had 962 passing yards, 148 rushing yards, 11 total touchdowns, and a 72% completion rate.
Penn State trailed Oregon 10-3 at the start of the fourth quarter. Despite a home game and a White Out crowd, Allar looked uncomfortable. Entering the fourth, Allar was just 8-of-16 passing for 62 yards and Penn State was 4-for-11 on third down. The Ducks outgained the Nittany Lions 303-109 through the first 45 minutes of the game.
Despite playing one of the weakest nonconference schedules of any team in the country, Allar put up pedestrian numbers through his first 3 games — 626 passing yards, 27 rushing yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 interception, with a 64.8% completion rate. Allar’s QBR entering Saturday was 38.7, the third-worst among 18 qualified Big Ten passers.
Pribula’s? He was at 83.8, the 13th-best in the country.
So, did Penn State keep the wrong quarterback? It feels like a reasonable question at this point.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
