By Kyle Golik
Sometimes coaches would love to have a mulligan. Penn State head coach James Franklin may not admit it, but Franklin may have wished to go deeper on the bench against Kent State instead of running redshirt freshman Cam Wallace late. Wallace had clearly established himself as the No. 3 back behind the dynamic duo of juniors Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
As Wallace was executing on mop-up duty, he suffered an injury to his left leg that Franklin has deemed “long term”. The impact of that injury was felt against UCLA as Penn State when Singleton was a surprise scratch just prior to kickoff. A ground attack that was leading the Big Ten in rushing entering the UCLA game averaging 251 yards per game was only held to a season-low 85 yards and under three yards per carry.
While UCLA entered the game allowing 107.1 yards per game on the ground, Indiana (123), LSU (102), and Oregon (153) each eclipsed 100 yards rushing against UCLA, something Penn State wasn’t able to do.
“Yeah, we thought we’d have him Thursday. I thought we’d have him Friday. I thought we’d have him today. I didn’t find out until after warming up,” Franklin said during his postgame comments following UCLA. “Ja’Juan (Seider) and Andy (Kotelnicki) came into the locker room and told me, so literally, it was a last-minute deal. Obviously, not having a guy like Nick Singleton is significant, but it was a tremendous opportunity for Kaytron (Allen) to get a few more touches. It was also a great opportunity to get Quinton (Martin Jr.) in there. So, you know, it’s a really good opportunity for those two guys, and I think overall we handled it well.”
While I felt Penn State’s ground attack was effective when it needed to be, the spark Singleton brings was noticeably missing.
Singleton’s partner in the backfield Allen assessed his performance against UCLA, “I could’ve done better but I could learn from the mistakes.”
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While Allen wasn’t alone, it felt like it at times. The only other Penn State running back to register a carry was Quinton Martin.
Running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider commented earlier in the week on the readiness of true freshman Martin and Corey Smith. “Yeah, he’s ready,” Seider said. “He’s been here all spring. He’s got no excuse not to be ready. If he ain’t ready, I ain’t done my job. He needs to be ready anyway,” Seider commented. “I mean, he’s ready to go. So it ain’t like, whether Nick playing or not, that doesn’t have anything to do with it. He’s gotta be ready to go regardless. Same with Corey (Smith). Gotta be ready to go regardless. So, it’s my job.”
Martin registered only one carry for a single yard against UCLA, but he was more featured in Penn State’s passing attack. Martin was targeted four times and finished with three receptions for 18 yards.
It became obvious Martin was filling the void left by Singleton’s absence in the Penn State passing attack. Singleton was Penn State’s fourth-leading receiver entering the UCLA game.
I pressed Allen during his postgame availability, about his contributions to the passing game, since his 20-yard touchdown reception against West Virginia Allen hasn’t been a factor in the Penn State passing attack.
“I mean, just out there, just having fun whenever I get the opportunity. And what we do as a team, it’s not just about me, it’s about the team,” Allen replied.
What Allen brings to the proverbial table in Penn State’s ground attack is physicality and an ability to attack tacklers. I asked Allen about his physicality in his running attack.
“To not get down. That’s what I want to do. My mentality, nobody is going to get me down. You have to defend me, scratch, crawl, anything to get me down,” Allen replied.
What was noticeable throughout the UCLA game, without Singleton the Penn State ground attack is average at best. With the uncertainty of why Singleton was out, the inexperience behind Allen was evident. While Seider says it’s his job to have guys like Martin and Smith ready at a moment’s notice, the combined one-carry for the freshman spoke a different tune of their readiness to contribute.
Penn State can ill afford to lose Singleton for any length of time. As the Nittany Lions climb the polls and championship aspirations present themselves, Allen is the physical grinder of the attack. But it is Singleton’s combination of being explosive, physical, and contributing in the passing game that is the differentiator of Penn State being a playoff contender and playoff pretender.
