Behind improved offensive line, Penn State running game peaking at right time
Share this post:
Andy Kotelnicki made clear Thursday afternoon that Penn State will lean on one position group to continue marching through the College Football Playoff.
The Nittany Lions’ offensive coordinator shined a light on the offensive line Thursday, specifically for the consistency and physicality it has shown of late. Against SMU, the nation’s fourth-best run defense heading into last Saturday’s game, Penn State moved smoothly on the ground with 189 yards (4.7 per carry). More specifically, though, junior running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen each averaged 6.4 yards a pop with three touchdowns between them.
“The nastiness and the physicalness which (the offensive line is) playing with and their understanding of what we’re trying to do, both in the running and pass game, specifically for that protection,” Kotelnicki said on Zoom. “There’s just not a lot of mental errors. There’s not a lot of busts, and you shouldn’t have that anyway.”
The Big Ten championship game against Oregon was another prime example of the improvement Penn State’s offensive line has shown: 292 yards and 8.3 yards per carry against the nation’s No. 1 team.
Against Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday in the CFP quarterfinals, the Lions will have their work cut out for them again.
The Broncos play in the Mountain West and, generally, see lesser competition, but they are allowing only 115.1 yards on the ground this season. In Week 2, Oregon rushed for just 109 yards against Boise State.
But Penn State’s people movers up front have grown leaps and bounds this season. Position coach Phil Trautwein lost three starters last season to the NFL (Olu Fashanu, Caedan Wallace and Hunter Nourzad), and budding right tackle Anthony Donkoh was lost to a long-term injury.
But the group of Drew Shelton, Vega Ioane, Nick Dawkins, Sal Wormley and Nolan Rucci finally has meshed well. Shelton, Dawkins and Rucci had little starting experience before this season. Rucci might be one of Penn State’s most improved players after transferring in from Wisconsin.
“That’s a group that takes a tremendous amount of pride in their process throughout the week and the way they prepare. Then it shows on Saturday with the way they play. There’s nobody else I would rather have up in front of me, blocking for me, protecting for me, than those guys,” quarterback Drew Allar said.
“I think Coach Traut does a phenomenal job of getting them prepared and just prepping them for different blitzes and stunts that they’re going to see throughout the week. They do a great job of just executing and studying the game plan.”
Behind the offensive line, Singleton and Allen are the healthiest they have been since the offseason. They are making longer, more physical runs, something Penn State missed through the middle portions of the season.
On a 1-yard rushing touchdown against SMU, coach James Franklin said Singleton ran back to the sideline screaming, “I’m a violent …” with some words not worth repeating to the media. Singleton laughed about the interaction on Saturday, but on Thursday, he made clear plays like that one have been an emphasis for both him and Allen.
“Just trying to be more physical, running people over. If it’s a 1-on-1 situation, knowing where to go, just picking somebody and running them over,” Singleton said. “Being that physical back, just adding that to your traits as a running back, I feel like that’s good for any running back. You can be physical, you can run. All the aspects you have, it just makes you more dangerous, I feel like I’m still trying to develop that.”
Perhaps Singleton’s biggest area of improvement this season, though, has been his receiving. He has career-bests with 39 catches and five receiving touchdowns this year. Allen always has been a surehanded receiver out of the backfield, though Singleton’s speed makes him more of a big-play threat.
“They’re both playing football at the highest level they have this year, which is what it should be at this point in the year,” Kotelnicki said. “If we’re about daily improvement, about getting better every practice and every game, those things are happening. And that position is very evident of our philosophy and our values.”
In the postseason — which includes conference championships, bowls and the first round of the CFP — Penn State has been Pro Football Focus’s 10th-best run-blocking team. The Lions also has been the best among teams in the playoff.
The young offensive line has denied sacks at an elite rate, tying for 20th in the FBS with just 15 allowed. The Lions are the only group in the top 30, though, that have played 14 games. Boise State will test those numbers Tuesday, considering the Broncos are second the nation in sacks and rank fourth in tackles for loss.
“I always challenge offensive lines and say our team will go as far as they’ll allow us to go,” Kotelnicki said. “For them to embrace that and love having that impact, if you will, on an offense, on a football team, they’ve truly, truly embraced that.”