CBS Sports' Gary Danielson Talks Penn State, Drew Allar and the Road to a Title

Danielson will begin his 36th and final season as a college football analyst by calling the Penn State-Nevada game at Beaver Stadium.

CBS college football anlayst Gary Danielson begins his final season in broadcasting at the Penn State-Nevada game. | Landon Bost/Naples Daily News/USA TODAY Network-Florida / USA TODAY NETWORK

Among Gary Danielson's fondest memories of visiting Penn State were the lunches with Joe Paterno. Danielson was always there to do his homework as a college football analyst, but he appreciated that Paterno did the same, often asking Danielson about his family or his days playing quarterback at Purdue.

"Penn State means a lot to me," Danielson said.

So it seems fitting that Danielson will begin his final season in broadcasting with a visit to Beaver Stadium for CBS Sports' coverage of Saturday's Penn State-Nevada game. Danielson announced earlier this year that his 36th season in the booth would be his last. Danielson, in his 20th year at CBS, said the "timing just feels right" to call it a career.

Danielson called Penn State an appealing place to start the year. The second-ranked Nittany Lions embark on their most anticipated season under head coach James Franklin, who seeks to win the program's first national championship since the 1986 season.

In an interview before the Penn State-Nevada game, Danielson discussed Penn State's title hopes, why this team reminds him of the unbeaten 1994 Nittany Lions and the player he loves to talk about when calling a Penn State game.

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Question: What parallels can you draw between this Penn State team and the unbeaten 1994 squad?

Gary Danielson: I think [1994] was Joe's best team, to tell you the truth. And I think the main parallel was the emergence of Kerry Collins from his junior year to his senior year. Kerry was a major player. You could see him turning into a first-round draft choice as as he played that year. If Drew [Allar] grows as much as Kerry did from his junior to his senior year, with this loaded team, we're looking at something special. You know, nobody talked about Joe Burrow being a first-round draft pick after his junior year. And if Drew can make that leap with this firepower around him, this could be like the '94 team that went undefeated. But it's a lot more fun to go undefeated now, because now you're in the playoff, and that '94 team didn't get the chance to prove whether they were the best or not.

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Question: What does Allar have to do to make that leap?

Danielson: What I thought Penn State was missing last year was, it was a mistake in knowing that they could win without using all of their team as they rolled through the season. I felt that, even though they felt their wide receivers were inferior and they could move the ball and win games with their tight end and the running backs, sooner or later you're going to have to get in that game where you're going to need the quarterback to hit that square-in with three minutes to go. And I didn't feel like they were ready to make those plays in the big game because they didn't use [the receivers] enough during the regular season.

This is a superior wide receiver team there now. Even though you can bludgeon a team with the running game and the tight end and you can win very easily doing that, I think you have to continue to use all your players for the time you're going to need them in that big game. And that's the one thing I'm hoping [offensive coordinator] Andy [Kotelnicki] and James and Drew have learned. I'm not saying [Allar] didn't make a bad throw or didn't make a mistake. But I think he didn't have enough experience to make those plays at the end of those games. I think that Drew needs to throw the ball in routes where they're taking a little bit more risk and have the receivers feel a part of the team. I felt last year's receivers never really felt part of the team in the offense.

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Drew Allar (15) looks to throw the ball against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the Orange Bowl. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Question: Are Penn State's receivers better this year?

Danielson: Sure, but I think the others were Big Ten receivers, too. I saw the Purdue's receivers years ago, when Drew Brees threw for 500 yards against Nick Saban's Michigan State defense. They weren't any better than Penn State's receivers last year. You've got to use them, and I think that will be the final step for Drew. Drew has all the ability to be an NFL starting quarterback, and I assume that he will make those next strides as he becomes more of a leader and more confident. The offense will expand this year. I believe this will be a better offensive attack than they had a year ago.

Question: What does Jim Knowles bring to Penn State's defense that the team can use in big games like at Ohio State?

Danielson: That's a tough question, because they've been so successful on defense. And you're really nitpicking. I think perhaps it's just his resume. I've seen some great coaches, like Steve Spurrier, when they called a play after a timeout with a minute 20 to go, his team believed that Steve was giving them the play that would make the difference. When Nick Saban is coaching his players, they're buying in because of the resume. When it gets to that gut-wrenching time in the game, when there's an adjustment to be made, the same adjustment might have been made before, but there may just be a little bit more credibility when [Knowles] looks at them and goes, 'Trust me, I've been here before. If we do this, it's going to work.'

Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles talks with reporters during football media day in Beaver Stadium. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Question: Who are you most looking forward to telling the viewers about Saturday?

Danielson: I really love talking about Kaytron Allen. I really believe he's the guy that makes this team go. He produces that physicality. I played with two great running backs in the NFL. Billy Sims was our No. 1 draft pick [in Detroit], and he was amazing. But Earnest Byner with the Browns was a free agent, and they both played so physical that they brought that to the team. And that's what Allen does for Penn State. Everybody just watches him run with the ball, and I think that produces electricity for this football team.

Penn State Nittany Lions running back Kaytron Allen runs the ball pressured by Notre Dame Fighting Irish cornerback Christian Gray in the second half in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Question: What do you want to see from Penn State in the opener and this season?

Danielson: I think that when the fans leave the game, it's important they see the team establish that that their receivers are threats. It's important they walk away from the game and say, not only are we deep at each position, but we're wide in how we can attack both on offense and defense. That's what I would want to see if I were a Penn State fan. But understand this: I've seen great teams not win the championship. For the Alabamas, the Georgias, the LSU team that didn't win it, the USC team that didn't win it or the Michigan team that didn't win it, there are going to be two or three clutch games where the team has to make clutch plays. The champions always make those clutch plays at the end of games. Even though you're loaded, even though you have a team that can win the championship, the team that makes the clutch plays at the end is the team that's going to win it.