James Franklin and Penn State need to get best part of their offense fixed against FIU so they can take down the Big Ten

Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen need to get back on track if Penn State wants a special 2025 season

Travis May — College Football Managing Editor

Sep 6, 2025 12:22 AM EDT

The Penn State Nittany Lions absolutely obliterated Nevada in their Week 1 matchup 46-11, and that score didn’t quite do the outcome justice. The game should have finished 46-3 if not for some late game heroics from Nevada’s offense against the Penn State backups.

However, that overall dominance by the defense and Drew Allar’s newfound connection with his transfer portal weapons helped hide the only problem with Penn State in their opening 2025 performance. The greatest perceived strength entering Week 1 for Penn State was their running game, but despite the heavy rushing touchdown total, the overall success on the ground was surprisingly disappointing. If Penn State wants to have the truly special season fans are expecting they need to get their ground game back on track against FIU (and Villanova) before they face off against the Oregon Ducks at the end of the month.

Penn State must fix their running game before Big Ten play kicks off

Last season Penn State finished the year with the number one offense in the nation via adjusted EPA per play, and that came largely in part because of how dominant their running game was all season long. They finished third in the nation in rushing success rate and 18th in yards per carry (around six yards per tote) despite an extremely tough schedule. Against Nevada? They managed only 3.75 yards per carry.

Kaytron Allen posted a respectable 5.38 yards per carry and a decent success rate thanks to his decisive cuts early on in the game, but he was the lone bright spot for the team on the ground. Nicholas Singleton at least added his typical value as a receiver, and his two rushing touchdowns–including his powerful first touchdown run of the game–helped overshadow the fact that his long run of the day was just six yards. The other running backs and Drew Allar failed to post even four yards per rush on the game.

Nicholas Singleton runs it in pic.twitter.com/wOmo9td4cn
— Mr Matthew CFB (@MrMatthew_CFB) August 30, 2025

Perhaps the lack of rushing success was due to Penn State’s rather vanilla offensive approach overall against Nevada since they likely don’t want to show their full plans ahead of the Oregon game. That would be the best case assumption for Nittany Lions fans. However, James Franklin and his staff still need to make sure their rushing game maintains its status as the team’s core strength in the coming weeks.

It was nice to see Drew Allar find some success with his new offensive toys, but look for Penn State to open things up a bit in the ground game in Week 2 and 3. If not, the Nittany Lions may struggle against their toughest opponents like Oregon and Ohio State this season.

We’ll be back with more Penn State coverage here at A to Z Sports soon! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!