The Question for Penn State leading into Saturday’s game against visiting UCLA was, “Will Nick Singleton play?”
(The answer: No.)
Singleton, who has shared the ball-carrying load with fellow junior running back Kaytron Allen for three seasons, was absent from practice on Wednesday, when the media was on hand. But, head coach James Franklin was still thinking at the time that Singleton might be ready to play against the Bruins, visiting Beaver Stadium for the first time since 1967.
Franklin kept his fingers crossed as the week progressed, even early into the Nittany Lions’ pre-game warm-ups Saturday morning, prior to the noon kickoff.
“I thought we would have him Thursday. I thought we would have him Friday. I thought we would have him today,” Franklin said of Singleton’s status after Penn State beat UCLA, 27-11, before 110,047 fans, the 10th-largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history.
Then, following early team warm-ups, veteran running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider and head athletic trainer Andy Mutnan tracked down Franklin in the PSU locker room and gave him the bad news.
“Literally, it was a last-minute deal,” Franklin said. “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. It was a really, really good opportunity for those two guys. I think overall, we handled it well.”
Allen responded with 21 carries — tying his PSU career-high, set three times — and ran for 78 yards, for a 3.7-yard per carry average, and a 1-yard rushing TD. Good, but not great. And hardly elite. It was not Allen’s best performance. He entered the game averaging 5.5 yards per carry in 2024. Singleton, on the other hand, had averaged 7.7 yards per carry through the first four games of the 2024 season, while averaging 102 yards per game. (Allen was near his 72.3-yard per-game average against the Bruins.)
The duo has split nearly perfectly the number of carries per game since they arrived on campus in 2022. Entering the UCLA game, Allen had 392 carries for 2,058 yards (5.3 ypc), while Singleton has had 380 carries for 2,221 yards (5.8 ypc). They are the second set of Penn State teammates to each have 2,000 career rushing yards, joining legendary Lions Lydell Mitchell (2,934, 1969-71) and Franco Harris (2,002, 1969-71).
Against UCLA in the first match-up of the two teams since they met in Los Angeles in 1968, Allen had only three rushes for double-digit yardage (10, 11, 11), while three of his runs went for negative yardage; three were for zero yards; and a total of 12 of his runs (57%) were for three yards or less.
“I felt like I could have played better out there,” Allen said after the game. “It was different not having my dog out there. It made me feel sad not having him out there.”
Allen said he heard that Singleton was not going to play when the team went out onto the field for its second set of pre-game warmups. Penn State quarterback Drew Allar wouldn’t share when he learned that Singleton would not play. (TBH, both players hemmed and hawed and looked uncomfortable when I asked them directly when they knew Singleton would not play.)
“I just went out there and Kaytron was out there,” said Allar, who completed 17 of 24 passes for 237 yards, including a five-yard TD pass to tight end Tyler Warren. “That’s the coaches’ decision. I have no influence over that. I figured since Nick was not out there [to start the game], he was not going to play.”
Allar praised Martin, a freshman running back from Belle Vernon. Martin carried once for one yard and also caught three passes from Allar for 18 yards. Martin saw action not only because Singleton was out, but the Nittany Lions were also without second-year running back Cam Wallace from Georgia. Wallace was injured vs. Kent State in the third game of the season, and will be out long-term.
BACK IN THE NICK OF TIME
Expect Singleton to play against USC next Saturday in the L.A. Coliseum (kickoff at 3:30 p.m. Eastern). It is a huge midseason matchup of Big Ten titans. Penn State is 5-0 for the fourth straight season and USC was 3-1 heading into its Saturday night game at Minnesota.
Singleton has been having an excellent rebound season. As a freshman in 2022, he ran for 1,061 yards, with a 6.8-yard average. Last season, he ran for just 752 yards and averaged 4.4 yards per carry.
Prior to Saturday, in 2024 Singleton was back to the national Gatorade Player of the Year form he had displayed as a high school star at Governor Mifflin High School, where he rushed for 6,326 yards and 116 touchdowns. This season, Singleton has had games of 114 yards rushing (West Virginia), 119 yards (Bowling Green), 81 yards (Kent State) and 94 yards (Illinois). He’s already had runs of 24, 40, 40 and 41 yards.
On Saturday, against UCLA, he was missed. Next Saturday at USC, he will be needed.
