Penn State football running game dominates Maryland, sets tone for rest of season
Juice Scruggs jovially trotted off the Beaver Stadium grass in a downpour Saturday evening, armed with his gloves and ready to toss them to awaiting fans above the team’s tunnel. Scruggs playfully decided which side to throw them to, tossed them into the air and jogged into the tunnel, laughing as he went.
He was all smiles and so were the other blockers who spoke to the media following Saturday’s 30-0 win over Maryland.
They, along with the running backs, achieved what Penn State head coach James Franklin had wanted all year — the Nittany Lions ran the ball when everyone in the stadium knew when it was coming.
Franklin had been a fervent believer in his team needing to run well, but it hadn’t been able to find it with consistency. Sure, there were flashes that the offense could run well this season, but there still seemed to be a defining performance that awaited.
Saturday may have been it.
“Being able to run the ball at times when everybody in the stadium knows you’re going to run the ball,” Franklin said, “that’s when you know you have a chance to be pretty good on the offensive side of the ball from a balance perspective, from a running game perspective, from a four-minute situation and even in the redzone.”
The Nittany Lions found the success because of everyone involved. The offensive line dominated the Maryland defensive line. The tight ends consistently won. And the running backs stole the will of the Terrapins.
The team’s duo at running back is as dynamic as you could expect from a pair of true freshmen. Kaytron Allen had been taking more carries of late, but Nick Singleton saw plenty of work as well. Today was his day to shine as he rattled off two 20+ yard touchdown runs.
While some teams employ a lead back that is supplemented by his backups, Penn State has a true pairing at the top.
“Teaching those guys how to take care of their body from a hydration, from a sleep, and from a nutrition perspective,” Franklin said. “And then having two backs that are pretty much splitting time. A lot of times you have a starter and a backup and the reps kind of break down like that. We don’t. They’re splitting reps.”
Those two combined for 195 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries in the game. They’ll get a lot of the credit, as they should, but those other aspects of the running game should not be glossed over.
The line’s improvement this season is notable because it isn’t just the team’s starters doing the work. The Nittany Lions have had to reach further down the depth chart to fill snaps of late because the team’s usual starters have been banged up.
Still, they continue to beat their opponents more often than not. And this after Franklin hesitated to applaud the group in the preseason because in the past he had done so and it had not panned out. He seemed to have confidence, but didn’t want to project it because it had come back to bite him.
With 10 games under the team’s belt, is Franklin ready to make a declaration on the group? Not really.
“Once again, I said at the beginning of year I’ll hold off talking about the O-line and let you guys talk about it,” Franklin said. “... I think the O-line is playing well. I think the tight ends are doing a good job. So, it’s kind of all those things together.”
The blocking performance stretches to those tight ends, too. Brenton Strange leads the way with the group as the most experienced player and starter, but also as the most physical.
He has been adept as a blocker for longer, but it’s Theo Johnson who has made the most growth. He came to Penn State as a wide receiver in high school who was far too large of a human to stick there in college. Now, the 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end takes similar joy in blocking someone as he does when he hauls in a pass.
That’s a microcosm of what the Nittany Lions preach.
“It feels good,” Johnson said with a smile. “It feels good to know that you can kind of impose your will on someone. One quote we say every team meeting on Friday before the game is, ‘physicality is no greater feeling than moving a man from Point A to Point B against his will,’ and I think that’s how I feel every time that I’m able to impose my will on someone in the blocking game.”
As left guard Hunter Nourzad said, however, there is always work to be done. Did the team dominate from the beginning? Yes. Did Nourzad say they also had corrections to make early on to keep it that way? Also, yes.
That will be the case the rest of the year, too.
Teams will adjust. They will find the flaws in the linemen, the running backs and the tight ends. They will have counters to Penn State’s plan.
And then the Nittany Lions will have to do the same to prove this is now who they are — the kind of running game that imposes its will on its opponent no matter the situation.
