Welcome to the Drew Allar era.

The five-star sophomore quarterback did more than impress in his debut against West Virginia, he lived up to the hype. Allar sliced up the Mountaineers for 325 yards and three touchdowns. Allar is the first Penn State quarterback to throw for at least 300 yards in his first career start since Michael Robinson threw for 379 yards vs. Wisconsin in 2003.

There was a lot to take away from Allar’s performance, but what I took away from it, was that I think PSU potentially has a quarterback that can win in a shootout. So, even if the Penn State defense is having struggles on an upcoming Saturday, specifically down the road against a potent Michigan rushing attack or on the road at Ohio State, Allar might be able to just simply score more points. It’s a lot to ask of the sophomore, but with the way he played last Saturday, his stock is certainly trending in that direction.

“Some of the things that I think are most impressive with Drew is his ability to make some of the non-traditional throws. That and his poise,” said Franklin. “Because I think what happens is when you’re not poised, you have a tendency to jump over reads and skip over progressions because your feet are antsy or because your eyes are antsy. He’s just so calm and poised, it allows him to go through progressions and read defenders. He doesn’t hang on progressions.”

The No. 7 ranked Nittany Lions welcome FCS opponent Delaware (Noon ET, Peacock) to Beaver Stadium this afternoon. The Blue Hens are coming off a 37-13 win over Stony Brook and are currently ranked No. 22/21 in the FCS rankings.

Delaware gained 414 yards passing and 145 yards rushing against Stony Brook. Blue Hens’ quarterback Ryan O’Connor threw for 346 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Running back Marcus Yarns rushed for 107 yards and two scores and Chandler Harvin hauled in five balls for 100 yards.

“They’re an RPO, spread style offense. Their pass game is vertical, you know, in movements. But in my mind, I expect us to see a ton of quick game, a ton of screens and a ton of you know, move-the-pocket type stuff. I think that’s how they’ll play us,” said Franklin.

The Nittany Lions will be looking to be more explosive in the run game this week against a Delaware defense that gave up 164 yards on the ground a week ago. Penn State was efficient, rushing for 146 yards at 4.6 yards per carry, but it wasn’t able to break off any big runs, with its biggest run coming on a 14-yard Nick Singleton carry. Singleton (70 yards) and Kaytron Allen (51 yards) combined for 121 yards and a touchdown. I expect to see a few big runs from both Singleton and Allen against what should be a dominant day on the ground against the Blue Hens.

Look for the Penn State defensive front to play a little angrier this week. A surprise on the day against West Virginia last week was that the Mountaineers were able to have some success in the run game. WVU did return a solid offensive line and it was able to help running back CJ Donaldson (81 yards) and Garrett Green (71 yards) combine for 152 rushing yards and two rushing scores. Overall, PSU still held West Virginia to 3.7 yards per carry. The Penn State pass rush as expected looked pretty good, coming away with three sacks and six tackles for loss.

“I think our defensive front was good. We needed to get off the field a little bit more on defense, but we played really good defense when it mattered most and were able to get off the field,” said Franklin. “Defensively, if you look, they got the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly, which was smart. There wasn’t a whole lot of traditional drop-back-pass. I was impressed with that quarterback (Greene). But the other thing they did is, they were smart. You look, they had their tight ends chipping our defensive ends a lot. I think to me that shows respect for our defensive line.”

There is no point-spread this week with PSU taking on an FCS opponent.

Delaware is a good FCS program, but the Blue Hens will definitely have their hands full as they should against the Nittany Lions. Penn State’s speed and size advantage on both sides of the ball is obviously a tough thing for Delaware to match-up with.

My pick is Penn State 55, Delaware 6

There is one thing I would like to mention before signing off this week. I would like to dedicate this week’s column to my good friend Brooke Berger, who passed away last week. Like most people do in the Times News area, my friends and I have a crew of people that get together on almost every Saturday and Sunday in the fall to not only watch football, but also to enjoy each other’s company, laugh, eat and just have fun. Brooke was such a fun and joyous person that we were all lucky to be around, and she was a part of our crew for as long as I can remember. Brooke will be greatly missed.