WVU HC Neal Brown Defends Penn State QB Drew Allar from ‘Unfair’ Criticism

There are few players around the country facing more pressure to perform in 2024 than Penn State’s Drew Allar. WVU head coach Neal Brown, who also knows what it’s like to be polarizing, was asked about his perception of Allar leading into West Virginia’s season opening game against the Nittany Lions.

Brown said he feels some of the discussion surrounding Allar is unfair, adding that he made the difference in Penn State beating WVU 38-15 in Week 1 of the 2023 season.

WVU HC Neal Brown says some of the national conversation surrounding Drew Allar is unfair. He says Allar was the difference in last year’s game.

— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) August 26, 2024

“I think the quarterback probably gets too much blame and too much credit when things go good,” said Brown in defense of Allar during his press conference on Monday.

“I think, maybe this is more nationally than locally. There’s a belief that he’s got pressure on him or that he didn’t play well. If you go back and look, and you think about this as a first-time starter, the kid played pretty well last year. He played really well against us. He was the difference in the game last year. We did okay versus their run game, but he hit some explosive passes against us that really hurt us. I thought he was accurate with the football in our contest.”

Brown also said that the only questionable performances for Allar from 2023 were when facing Michigan and Ohio State, two teams most players often struggle against.

“If you look at his complete body of work, I think sometimes unfairly, a lot of people struggle against Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan did win the national championship. Ohio State does have a pretty good and sporty little team, too. So, I think sometimes those are a little bit maybe unfair. If you look at his entire body of work as a first-year starter, he did some really good things.”

Brown and the Mountaineers were victim to Allar’s best game from his first college start. Allar completed 21-of-29 passes for his 2023 regular season best 325 yards and threw three touchdowns. Overall, Allar posted a 61.3 completion percentage, threw for 2,631 yards with 25 touchdowns and only two interceptions while running for 170 yards on the ground.

Below are a few images of Drew Allar from WVU’s trip to Beaver Stadium and State College. (Matt Lynch / Nittany Sports Now)

For a related story, WVU coaches and players discussed Penn State scoring in the final seconds of the 2023 game.

Is WVU Still Thinking About Penn State Scoring Late in 2023 Season Opener?