At almost the worst possible moment, Drew Allard's shot was a little too high.
With less than a minute left in Thursday's College Football Playoff semifinal tie game, the Penn State sophomore quarterback looked around the field and saw it was empty.
And that's when the whole season changed.
Aller made the fateful decision to throw a crossbody to receiver Omari Evans in the middle of the field, but the pass went far off the ground and into the arms of Notre Dame cornerback Christian Gray. .
Minutes later, the Fighting Irish won 27-24, ending Penn State's hopes of winning a national title, and Aller was brought to tears in his postgame press conference.
“I just went at my own pace and got to the backside and to be honest, I was just trying to throw the ball at his feet,” Aller said of the interception with 33 seconds left. The first two progressions didn't open up due to the situation we were in, but I just tried to dart at Amari's feet and couldn't do what I was trying to do. ”
The game, which began with some wondering if Aller could be a top-10 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, is remembered for the horrific pitch he made in a blowout loss. It will remain.
Aller didn't play particularly well Thursday, completing 12 of 23 passes for 135 yards with one interception and two walkouts, but he found himself in a position to win the game. Ta.
Penn State chose to go for the win rather than run out the clock once they received the ball with less than a minute left, and Aller went for a second-and-two pass at Penn State's 28 points. Ta.
In a moment that could have helped his draft stock, Aller bounced in the pocket and made the wrong decision.
Penn State's receiver didn't make a single catch all night, but he threw to Evans in one coverage. Even if he intended to throw the ball into the ground, the sideline was a safer option.
Aller had his hands on his helmet after the shocking turnover, but Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said the quarterback shouldn't blame himself. by Sports Illustrated.
Commentator Greg McElroy said, “That was a huge mistake by Drew Allard.” “It works all the way to the back and you can never throw the line over the middle. It doesn't matter what the situation is. You want to make plays for your team, but you can't throw blindly from that far. .”
Aller previously announced plans to return to Happy Valley for the 2025 season, and teams especially in need of a quarterback will be interested to hear how he played with games on the line and how everything turned out. Thursday's game likely didn't help his draft stock, as we saw things go very wrong for Aller. Nittany Lions.
He described his performance as “not good enough” and said he would use it as a learning experience.
The sophomore shed tears while talking about his season.
“I learned a lot about myself, and I credit that to the coaching staff for allowing me to be who I am. I think I've grown a lot on the field and off the field.” said Allah. “I'm looking forward to continuing to grow, learning more about myself and getting better in any way I can, on the field and off the field. I'm just looking forward to the opportunity. I'm definitely going to learn from this and move forward.” I'm going to go ahead and take it right now.
Penn State coach James Franklin believes Aller will bounce back.
“He'll handle it well. He'll be sore tonight, he'll be sore tomorrow, he'll be a little less sore the next day, and so on,” Franklin said. “But he's a dedicated guy who tries to do it the right way, and he said so. It might not feel like that right now, but he's going to learn from this and get better, and we… would too.”
