Looking back at Penn State football’s 2023 regular season

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WHTM) – Before Penn State’s (10-2, 7-2 Big Ten) bowl game and the hype surrounding the premiere competition, it’s important to look back and appreciate all of the highs and acknowledge the lows of the 2023 regular season.

Week 1 – West Virginia – W, 38-15

Penn State opened the season with a win over West Virginia at home, the first time the teams had met since 1992. With their win, the Nittany Lions kept alive a 5-game win streak over the Mountaineers that dates back to 1989. Quarterback Drew Allar had his highest yardage of the season with 325 passing yards and a long of 72 yards in his debut as the starting quarterback.

Week 2 – Delaware – W, 63-7

This commanding victory was the first-ever meeting between the two teams. Allar had a season-high 84.6% completion percentage in the contest and recorded his first rushing touchdown of the season.

Another highlight of the game was linebacker Dominic DeLuca scoring Penn State’s first defensive touchdown of the season with a pick-six.

Week 3 – Illinois – W, 30-13

The Nittany Lions handled Illinois to secure a win in their first away game of the season, which also opened their Big Ten competition. They had a record game defensively with Penn State having five takeaways. The last time Penn State accomplished that feat was seven years earlier.

Week 4 – Iowa – W, 31-0

Penn State earned its first shutout win of the season in the White Out matchup against the No. 24/22 Hawkeyes. 110,830 fans, the second-largest crowd ever in Beaver Stadium, witnessed the victory. Allar posted a season-high 25 completions and four touchdown passes.

The win marked the first time Penn State had denied an AP Top 25 team any points since the 1999 Alamo Bowl when they shut out No. 18 Texas A&M.

Week 5 – Northwestern – W, 41-13

The defense put up a strong performance, especially in the second half against Northwestern. Penn State held the Wildcats to just three points in the second half. The Nittany Lions continued to show up offensively as well with their 12th-straight game with 30 or more points.

Week 7 – U Mass – W, 63-0

Penn State grabbed its second shutout of the season over UMass in its homecoming game. It was only the second time Penn State had ever played the Minutemen. Across both meetings, UMass has only scored 7 points.

Allar had a season-high 69.6% completion percentage.

Week 8 – Ohio State – L, 12-20

Penn State was handed its first loss of the season in a heartbreaking loss to its rival Ohio State. The Nittany Lions increased their losing streak to the Buckeyes to seven games.

Allar had the most pass attempts of the season with 42, but Penn State wasn’t able to capitalize on the opportunities. Allar had his worst performance of the Nittany Lions campaign with a 42.9% pass completion percentage.

Week 9 – Indiana – W, 33-24

Penn State recorded its seventh 30+ point performance in this bounceback win over Indiana. Allar had 210 passing yards with three touchdown passes and Penn State kept its undefeated home record.

Week 10 – Maryland – W, 51-15

Penn State dominated Maryland for a road victory. Allar had his best completion percentage of the season with a 73.5% success rate and tied his season-best touchdown passes with 4 and pass completions with 25.

KeAndre Lambert-Smith tied the team-high for receptions in a single game he set against Iowa with 8 receptions.

Week 11 – Michigan – L, 15-24

Many Penn State fans would like to forget this loss. After falling to Ohio State, the Nittany Lions were hoping to come out on top against their other Big Ten rival. The only real highlight was that Kevin Winston had a team season-high 12 tackles in the effort. That positive was overlooked by most however because all that mattered was the win that didn’t happen.

Penn State increased its losing streak to Michigan to three with the loss.

Allar struggled with a 43.5% completion percentage, his second-worst of the season. To lots of fans, this was the unofficial end of the regular season.

Week 12 – Rutgers – W, 27-6

Allar struggled a bit to bounce back from the devastating Michigan loss and only put up a 46.2% completion percentage in the win over Rutgers. Quarterback Beau Pribula however posted a career-high 71 yards.

Penn State didn’t allow the Scarlet Knights to score a single touchdown in the contest.

Week 13 – Michigan State – W, 42-0

To wrap up the season Penn State delivered another shutout, bringing their season total to three. Penn State blanked Michigan State with Allar posting a 65.4% completion percentage. Kaytron Allen rushed for a team season-high 137 yards in the meeting and completed the longest rushing play of the season (50 yards).

The biggest news of the season happened off the field when Penn State fired its offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich on Nov. 12 after the loss to Michigan. At the time of this article, Penn State has not named a new person to take over the position heading into bowl season. Ja’Juan Seider and Ty Howle were named as interim offensive coordinators for the remainder of the season.

Head Coach James Franklin saw another season where Penn State was successful on the field but failed to defeat their in-division rivals. Franklin is now 3-17 against top-10 teams with a 4-16 record against Penn State’s biggest rivals Ohio State and Michigan.

As far as ranked opponents in general, Franklin is just 12-19 against programs in the top 25.

Penn State’s high on the AP Poll was No. 6, which they reached in Week 5. The Nittany Lions remained there until Week 8 when they dropped back to No. 7 where they initially began the season.

They dropped out of the top ten for the first time all season in Week 12 when they were ranked No. 12, which was the lowest ranking they ended up having for the entire campaign. Penn State finished the season at No. 10.

Penn State’s bowl game and opponent will be revealed on Sunday, December 3.