Penn State Sports Magazine
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3 6 O C T O B E R 2 0 2 5 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M O P I N I O N THOMAS FRANK CARR T F R A N K .C A R R @ O N 3 .C O M P enn State may be unbeaten, but it hasn't found a good "rhythm" on offense as head coach James Frank- lin described it after a 52-6 win over Vil- lanova on Sept. 13. When assessing the offense, it's im- portant to note that game plans are never just one concept. Each week, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki adapts to what he sees on film from the opponent and adds in wrinkles to help give his players an advantage. Meanwhile, the team runs its base offense, which con- sists of outside zone rushing and a hand- ful of passing concepts. Against Villanova, Penn State was prepared to face a unique defense that deploys three down linemen and five defensive backs. It's an amorphous unit that can send safeties and linebackers all over the offensive front at a moment's notice while shifting the coverage seam- lessly. But instead of using their typical ap- proach, the Wildcats caught Penn State off guard by replicating a wrinkle that Florida International used in a 34-0 loss a week earlier. "They played more four-down defense than they have ever shown on tape," Franklin said. "Early on, we had to get an adjustment to that because we weren't expecting it." Once Penn State got a read on the plan, it was able to pivot back to its base game plan of outside zone rushing to churn yards. Senior running back Kaytron Al- len gashed Villanova for 70 yards on just 7 carries when running the outside zone concept, while classmate Nicholas Sin- gleton had 8 such carries for 40 yards. Throughout the first few weeks of the season, fans have grumbled that the Li- ons' offense hasn't dominated any of its opponents so far. One of the problems has been a lack of explosive runs from Singleton, who's known as a big-play threat. In the Villanova game, Singleton had 2 broken tackles on 20 carries, or 10 percent, which is actually higher than his season total. Through the first three games, Singleton has a broken-tackle rate of 7 percent. That figure ranked 58th among 64 Power Four running backs with at least 30 rushing attempts. Allen ranked fourth with a broken-tackle rate of 41 percent. So far, Singleton's adaptation to new running backs coach Stan Drayton has been a struggle. Villanova also created some problems for senior quarterback Drew Allar. The Wildcats play a version of keep-away defense that frustrated Penn State in 2021 and did so again this year by drop- ping an extra defender into coverage. As the game wore on, Villanova used its extra defender to take away Penn State's favorite routes. Allar has a prefer- ence for out-breaking and comeback routes along the sideline. With the Wild- cats predicting and undercutting those routes, Allar had nowhere to throw the ball on several plays. One of the most interesting stories this season has been Allar's work on the deep passing game. He's never been a prolific deep-ball thrower, but one mitigating factor is that Penn State hasn't had a lot of receivers the past few years who can get open on those long passes. This year, the team got players from the transfer portal to help with that. Against FIU and Villanova, Allar was asked to take shots downfield, and the results were mixed. However, the will- ingness to throw the ball into coverage and give his receivers a chance is better than it has been in other years. Looking at the game tape, it's clear that Allar's performance was better than the social media discourse would lead you to believe. That said, it was not a standout performance. That's the rub. Allar returned for his senior season to not only win games but also to be a dif- ference-maker at quarterback and im- prove his draft stock. Against Villanova, there were two specific opportunities to take shots down the middle of the field to sophomore tight end Luke Reynolds into favorable — but not clean — coverage. In both situations, Allar saw the throw but opted instead for a comeback route to the sideline, which was the safer of the two choices. Allar is still making the "right" choice, but he's not doing anything to elevate the offense by making a game-defining throw. Coming into this year, the stan- dard had to be higher for a senior. Avoid- ing mistakes is expected. The offense Penn State has built around Allar boasts plenty of quality players but few game-breakers. If we take Allar and Allen out of the equation, the other skill players have broken 8 tackles on 61 receptions. That's a 13 per- cent rate for the pass catches. So far, this team has shown it can get the yards that are available through the scheme, but it struggles to generate any- thing more. That puts more pressure on Allar to find the right pass on every play. Again, he's not bad, but has he taken a meaningful step forward as a passer? At this point, that question hasn't been an- swered. ■ Penn State's Offense Still Hasn't Found Its Groove Nicholas Singleton's broken-tackle rate of 7 percent ranked 58th among FBS running backs heading into the Lions' bye week. PHOTO BY FRANK HYATT Upon Further Review