The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Reviewing Penn State football’s 34-27 win over Bowling Green
Saturday was Tyler Warren’s day to explode for the Penn State offense. The tight end set a Penn State record at the position with 146 receiving yards and did it by catching all of his eight targets in the team’s 34-27 win over Bowling Green. That’s a stark contrast from last week against West Virginia when it was Tre Wallace who led the team with five catches for 117 yards. That, in all likelihood, will be the theme of the Penn State offense in 2024. There may not be a true No. 1 option that Drew Allar targets week in and week out. Instead, it will be about offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki finding a weakness in the opposing defense every week and picking on it mercilessly.
“I think really it just comes to how our offense has been diverse through camp,” Warren said after the win over Bowling Green. “This game plan had some shots for tight ends and that’s what was open. But you saw last week with Tre, he had a lot of big plays. I think it just kind of speaks to the skill we have around the offense. This week it was me, last week it was Tre, the next upcoming game it could be somebody different and keep going through the season like that. So I think it just kind of speaks to what (Kotelnicki has) done and how we are embracing the offense and spreading the ball around.”
Penn State tight end Tyler Warren cuts down the field with the ball ahead of Bowling Green defenders during the game on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. Abby Drey adrey@centredaily.com It’s one thing to want to target a player who is a mismatch for your opponent, but it’s another to actually plan it out and execute it. Through two weeks, that’s where Kotelnicki has excelled.
His creativity and play-calling acumen has allowed his players to shine and have the offense firing on all cylinders two games into the season. “I think it’s just (that Kotelnicki) is creative in how he does stuff,” Warren said. “And it’s a lot of the same stuff, just dressing it up different and getting to it in different ways, running stuff with different people. But it’s really just, we’re trusting him, and he trusts us to go make the plays when our name is called.” GOOD Drew Allar: The quarterback will almost always take top billing here when he’s good because he’s the most important player on the field. Allar continued showing many of the same signs he did last week against West Virginia that make me think he’s turning the corner to be the player many expected out of high school. He navigated the pocket deftly, and wasn’t phased by pressure, even if it didn’t always result in a massive gain. But most importantly he showed off the howitzer attached to his right shoulder — firing in dime after dime through tight windows and into the hands of his awaiting weapons.
Leave a Reply