Sunday Column: It’s Coming Together, Everywhere, All At Once for Peaking Penn State

There was a moment in Saturday’s smackdown of Purdue that nicely illustrated both the problem for defenses that must play Penn State and the reason the Nittany Lions, after a 49-10 win that was every bit the blowout it was expected to be, have ascended to the top five and, perhaps in a way they didn’t in the first half of the season, truly look like a top five program.

Nick Singleton had just plowed into the end zone and was celebrating with his teammates. First Anthony Donkoh, with the Dirty Dancing lift. Then Drew Allar, with a practiced handshake and a quick nod. And then Singleton got props from the star of the day (and of the season, really): a short, almost businesslike acknowledgement from Tyler Warren. It was two lions nodding at one another over a big kill, two alphas understanding the moment for what it was but also that it was only a small part of their shared goal of ruling the entire jungle.

The moment represented Penn State’s proficiency and power but also its balance. The Nittany Lions can hurt you on offense, defense, or special teams. They can run it or throw it; they can stop the run or terrorize your quarterback or turn you over. They can beat you with size or speed or sheer talent; or they can out-scheme you. They have some of the best players in the game at their positions, and they also have unheralded but productive starters around them plus the team-wide depth to weather the inevitable injuries the season brings. This is a stacked team, and it has become a well-rounded one. That was evident against a Big Ten bottom-feeder like Purdue but it has been increasingly evident all season, even in the loss to Ohio State.

Some of it is players simply improving. Drew Allar was always able to throw it all over the field, but now he’s able to see the entire field too, and knows where to go with the ball, when to throw it away, and when to tuck and run. Those qualities have raised both the floor and ceiling of an offense that continues to see its entire wide receiving corps out-performed by its otherworldly tight end each week. Singleton could always take it to the house, but, despite nagging injuries, he’s learned how to set up his blocks, when to hit the hole hard and when to give it a second. And he’s probably improved his already strong draft stock by virtue of the receiving skills he’s shown this year alone. In September, Abdul Carter was flashing more for offsides penalties than sacks or TFLs. Now he’s in the backfield almost every other play, even when being held.

Again, though, those are your stars, the guys who need to be performing at a high level for your team to be at its best. They’re expected to do so. What the Nittany Lions have gotten from the non-headliners has been just as important. The offensive line continues to quietly protect Allar and, if it’s not exactly blowing people off the ball, is doing enough most plays in the run game to give Singleton, Kaytron Allen, Warren, Allar and Beau Pribula room to visit the secondary. We can debate how much the Pribula packages are worth when they come at the expense of Allar plays, but Penn State lost a couple of important games when Sean Clifford went down with an injury, and Pribula proved against Wisconsin that Penn State can still put out a first-team effort even without Allar. A rotating group of corners, mostly transfers, has been sound in coverage on the rare occasions the Lions’ pass rush gives quarterbacks chances to go downfield, and Anthony Poindexter, Jaylen Reed, and the safeties have made the loss of KJ Winston, which might have crippled other teams, almost an afterthought.

This is all a testament to the talent James Franklin and his staff have been bringing in through both the freshman classes and the transfer portal, but unlike in previous years, the Nittany Lions are maximizing that talent, blending the skill sets of their players with savvy schemes and timely in-game adjustments. This is a team that can hurt you before it gets punched in the mouth but also one that is able to quickly stop the bleeding and find other ways to win after the punch comes. And it’s keeping everyone well-fed, from Singleton to Warren to Corey Smith and Luke Reynolds; from Carter and Reed to Tyrece Mills and Antoine Belgrave-Shorter.

The counter to all this, of course, is that not even this group, the collective result of Franklin and his staff learning from various mistakes and addressing them, was able to crack the nuts from Columbus. That’s important, even if the Nittany Lions might very well have a chance to rectify it in a playoff game (or more) in the coming weeks. But while you’d like to beat the league’s biggest rival every once in a while (say, more than once a decade), it is much more difficult to build the sort of versatile, resilient, balanced team that currently wears blue and white. It’s harder to appreciate that on days when your second-stringers could have handled the opponent but it should nonetheless not be taken for granted, at least not for a program that hasn’t won a natty since the Reagan administration.