Penn State vs. UCLA: Final thoughts and analysis of PSU’s West Coast trip
Penn State plays its second Big Ten game of the 2025 regular season Saturday afternoon in the Rose Bowl. The Nittany Lions will play the UCLA Bruins in Week 6 of the college football season in the program’s first game since losing to Oregon. Here are some final thoughts and predictions ahead of the matchup.
Does anything change on offense?
That’s the million-dollar question moving forward for this team. The Nittany Lions have been mostly bad on offense this season and had the benefit of an abysmal first three opponents to mask some of the issues that showed up against Oregon. The offensive line was supposed to be one of the best in the country and instead has been adequate. Quarterback Drew Allar was supposed to take a step forward but instead looks like the same player he was last year. Running back Nick Singleton has failed to hit on the explosive plays that have made him a high-level back in the past. Generally speaking, everything has been worse.
And this is the first chance to make real changes — but will they? Penn State’s offensive line would be the primary place to watch, with the right side of the group being the focus. Anthony Donkoh was excellent at right tackle last season but has not played as well at right guard, while Nolan Rucci has had issues at right tackle. The simplest fix would be putting Donkoh back outside and starting either T.J. Shanahan or Cooper Cousins at right guard. That could help unlock the running game and give Allar more time in the pocket. That being said, there’s no guarantee the team makes any changes — but this would be the time to do it with a couple games until the next tough test at Iowa.
Avoiding the trap
James Franklin spent a lot of time talking about not allowing one loss to turn into two. And, if it happens this time, it would be a disaster. The Nittany Lions’ head coach has seen it happen before after these big games, but UCLA is not the type of opponent that should give the team any trouble this weekend. Based on ESPN analyst Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings, which measure college football efficiency, the Bruins are the worst team in the Big Ten and the No. 100 overall team in the country — much closer to past PSU opponents like Nevada (No. 124) and FIU (No. 121), rather than Oregon (No. 1).
Franklin has emphasized going 1-0 every week since he first got to Happy Valley — he even recently donned a “1-0” pin made with diamonds and sapphires — and the Nittany Lions haven’t dropped back-to-back games since a three-game slide in 2021 that featured a pair of top-5 teams and an upset loss in nine overtimes to Illinois. In other words, say what you will about Franklin, but he’s generally pretty good at getting his team back on track. And UCLA is a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad program. If PSU stumbles against UCLA, an opponent whom it’s favored against by 24.5 points, it could spell doom for the rest of the season.
Getting Singleton and Allar going
It bears repeating: Neither has been very good this season — and it’s important to see what kind of tone these two veterans set early on Saturday. Will Drew Allar continue his inconsistency, sailing the ball on third down or automatically turning to his first read in key situations? And can Nick Singleton finally run with the decisiveness that allowed him to average 6.4 yards per carry last season, nearly 3 full yards better than this season (3.8 ypc)?
The two issues feed into each other. Between overthinking and inconsistency, Allar needs all the help he can get. That means more manageable down-and-distance situations, which means more help from the running game. Singleton’s lack of explosiveness has served as a millstone around the necks of the offense, as none of his 52 carries this season have ended with a 20-yard gain. (His season-long is a 16-yard scamper vs. FIU.) If that doesn’t change against UCLA, arguably the worst team left on the Nittany Lions’ schedule, it might not change this season. We’ll see what’s in offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s bag of tricks, or maybe we’ll also just see more Kaytron Allen and/or option packages involving Allar.
Final predictions
Penn State 31, UCLA 7: This is an easy chance for the Nittany Lions to bounce back against a team that is winless and has already fired its head coach this season. The Bruins are flat-out bad on both sides of the ball and shouldn’t put up much of a fight. This is as good of an opportunity as this team will have the rest of the year to light up an opponent that is one of the worst teams in the country.
MVP: Kaytron Allen. I wouldn’t be surprised if we look back at this game as the one where Kaytron Allen starts to take over as the primary back. He’s been significantly better than Singleton this season and more consistent to the point that he should be getting two carries to every one Singleton does. I’ll say he finishes this game with 21 touches, 135 rushing yards, 35 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the win.
The last word
Penn State head coach James Franklin on what the offense does well:
“I think when we’re running the ball, I think our play-action pass is something that we have done well. I think when we can get Drew involved in the running game I think that creates a lot of frustration for defenses. So a lot of the stuff that you saw on Saturday where we were able to run some of the read packages, option packages, however you want to look at it, with the speed sweep or quarterback power stuff, that’s difficult to defend, right? Whether it’s the zone read stuff and getting him out the back side of the run to keep the defense honest is something that we haven’t seen a whole lot this year. I think that’s valuable as well.
“I think we’ve shown that Devonte Ross can make some plays. He’s done it now in multiple games. I think Trebor Peña has done really good things and Hudson obviously has had some games as well. So we got to continue to distribute the ball around. The other guy is Kaytron Allen is playing really well. You know, I think Nick, although the statistics would not say this, I think he’s playing consistent, how he’s played in the past. The difference with Nick is there has usually been one or two runs where there has been a space, a gap, a hole, where he can rip off an explosive run. He’s been a guy that’s been able to do that throughout his career with a 60-yard run, 80-yard run, that obviously changes the perception and statistics. ... Kaytron Allen has had a really good early part of the season and we got build on that, too.”
Reporter Josh Moyer contributed to this story
