Drew Allar made perhaps the costliest mistake of his football career when he was intercepted by Notre Dame cornerback Christian Gray in Thursday's Orange Bowl loss. Under pressure, Allar threw the football across the field over the middle, where Gray capitalized and picked off the pass. Notre Dame took over the football, driving it into field goal range before Mitch Jeter made the game-winning kick to secure a 27–24 victory.

The gut-wrenching error kept Allar from leading a game-winning drive of his own, or at least kept the game from going into overtime. Instead, Allar and Penn State were defeated by Notre Dame—and eliminated from the College Football Playoff.

Allar took the blame for the critical interception while speaking to the media following the loss. "I should have just thrown it away when I felt the first two progressions not open just because of the situation we were in," he said.

After the game though, Allar received a confident endorsement from his coach, James Franklin, who showed nothing but support for his quarterback in the wake of a challenging moment.

“Drew [Allar] is a passionate guy, he invests so much into his development, but also his teammates and Penn State," Franklin told the media after the game. "He’ll handle this how he handles everything else — with a first-class approach.”

Allar currently intends to return to Penn State next season, rather than enter the NFL Draft, which would give him another opportunity at a national championship with the Nittany Lions. He wrapped up his third season of college football going 13–3, making his first CFP appearance and throwing for 3,327 yards, 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as James Franklin Shares Encouraging Message for Drew Allar After Penn State's CFP Loss.