Penn State Football: On Balance, a New Offensive Identity

Though you wouldn’t know it from Penn State’s mudder of a soggy game in Beaver Stadium last weekend, when passes were at a premium as the Nittany Lions ran the ball 58 times, the PSU offense is back in balance.

Or, at least getting closer.

It had been awhile.

In 2021, Penn State’s offense gained 72% of its yards through the air — 3,491 yards passing to just 1,402 yards rushing. They were historically, if not hysterically, bad: The 1,402 is Penn State’s third-lowest season total dating back to at least 1946; they had 1,325 in 2014 and 1,317 in 2001.

When you gain just 3.2 yards per carry, discrepancies like that occur.

Not a single back rushed for over 100 yards in a game last season, as the Nittany Lions barely averaged that as a team, with a per-game total of 107.8 yards per contest. As a team, Penn State rushed for 150 yards or more just twice in 2021. (Neither of those came in the season’s final eight games.)

Fast forward — edge-beating, sweeping touchdowns of 70, 54 and 44 yards by Nicholas Singleton fast — to 2022:

After gaining just 98 yards on the ground in the 35-31 season-opening nail-biter at Purdue, Penn State has rushed for yardage totals of 234 (Ohio), 245 (Auburn), 166 (Central Michigan) and 220 (Northwestern) in 2022.

As a result, second-year coordinator Mike Yurcich’s offense is in a much greater equilibrium, with just 57% of its yards this season (1,255 to 963) coming through air.

Perhaps even more important, the run-pass ratio for the 5-0 Nittany Lions is nearly 50/50. Through five games, Penn State has run 360 plays; 53% runs and 47% passes.

No one is happier about that than head coach James Franklin — who has spent much of the past two-and-a-half seasons telling Kirk Ciarrocca and now Yurcich to run the ball more. If not more effectively.

As a result, the Nittany Lions have a new identity. One with which Franklin is much more comfortable.

“I think obviously this year our identity revolves around being more balanced and having the ability to run or pass,” Franklin said on Tuesday. “That’s probably a big adjustment from last year and maybe even the previous years, just being more balanced — having the ability to run or pass.

“It keeps people honest,” the Penn State head coach added. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”

The biggest reason for the change? To be honest, there are two: Singleton and fellow true freshman running back Kaytron Allen.

True, the Penn State offensive line is steadier. And yes, Penn State has yet to face the meat of its Big Ten schedule — a three-games-in-15-days gauntlet of Michigan, who stuttered a bit against Indiana on Saturday; Minnesota in a Whiteout; and Ohio State, who own the Big Ten East.

But, the impact of the two freshmen has been palpable.

Together, they are carrying the ball 24 times a game, for an average of over 6.3 yards per carry and 153 yards per game. Singularly, they are not quite the freshman sensation that was Saquon Barkley in 2015. But who is?

Here is how they compare, as singles and Singleton as well as a tandem, through their and Saquon’s first five games as a Nittany Lion. (It’s not quite an apples and oranges comparison, TBH; Barkley carried just once in his first game at PSU, and missed a pair of games before ripping off 194 yards at No. 1 Ohio State in his fifth collegiate game):

Veteran Keyvone Lee has 88 yards in 24 carries in 2022, and is clearly RB3.

The presence of Singleton and Allen does not come without some losses — namely in the persons of running backs Noah Cain (LSU), Caziah Holmes (Florida State) and Devyn Ford (last week, destination unknown). All three have left the Penn State program, beginning with Cain in the winter and ending with Ford in the last two weeks.

You hate to see anyone go, and they certainly have not flourished — Cain has four TDs this year, but had just one carry for three yards in LSU’s crushing 40-13 loss to Tennessee.

But, on balance, the addition of Singleton and Allen has been a plus for the Penn State offense.