Heading into the 2025 season, one of the strengths the national media agreed on was Penn State football’s elite running back play. With two of the best players in the country in the same backfield, it’s hard to think depth went under the radar.

Yet, in the Nittany Lions’ season opener, they proved once again that Happy Valley is a running back factory. Not only did the two household names in Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton play well, but some of the younger guys proved they could also reach that expectation of Penn State running backs.

Singleton, highly thought of as one of the two best running backs in the country, rushed for 19 yards and two touchdowns on just six touches. He also added four receptions for 37 yards. Allen was also efficient, running for 43 yards and a touchdown on eight carries.

After taking a strong lead in the third quarter, James Franklin put in Cam Wallace and Corey Smith to seal the deal.

The Nittany Lion head coach was rewarded for his decision with the play of the game coming soon after from Wallace. On a third-down play, the redshirt sophomore caught a pass near the sideline and hurdled his defender in a Saquon Barkley-esque play.

"That's a familiar number, you just gotta do it backward." — Gary Danielson

What a hurdle by Cam Wallace pic.twitter.com/osqgq5yV4A

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) August 30, 2025

Wallace ended the game with five carries for 19 yards and one reception for 12. Smith also showed his agility with his five rushes, which went for 13 yards.

“I’ve been really excited about Cam [Wallace],” Drew Allar said after the win against Nevada. “He’s done nothing but put his head down and work.”

Both Wallace and Smith were highly sought-after recruits in high school, but haven’t gotten opportunities because of the elite players ahead of them. Franklin will likely keep leaning on the two young backs in the first three games of the season in an attempt to develop them for the 2026 season.

Despite successful play from the running backs, Penn State struggled in the red zone at times to punch it in for seven. Notably, on Zane Durant’s pick, which he returned to the six-yard line, the Nittany Lions had to settle for three points.

“Yeah. Again, I get if there’s an area that we need to improve, we stalled out a few times,” Franklin said I don’t want to give you the coach answer that you guys hate, which is why I gotta watch the tape to decide, but obviously we didn’t execute down there, and we need to do that.”

For the Nittany Lions, touchdowns either came from inside the three-yard line or from out of the red zone. Multiple short Singleton runs resulted in a score, and a 31-yard shot to Kyron Hudson also led to seven points.

The red zone has to be a point of emphasis for Penn State this season. In 2024, the Nittany Lions were generally good at converting from inside the 20, but struggled in one of the biggest games of the year against Ohio State.

One reason Franklin gave for the inefficiency was the struggling outside zone game. Something Penn State typically can hang its hat on was shut down by the Nevada defensive line.

A positive for the failed touchdown attempts was plenty of practice for former walk-on kicker Ryan Barker, who went four for four with a long of 39 yards.

“I don’t know if I would call it a struggle. The reality is I told Andy [Kotelnicki] to call a couple plays that wouldn’t convert so we could work on our field goals,” Franklin joked after the game.

Early in the 2024 season, kicking was a struggle, notably against ranked Illinois at home when Sander Sahaydak missed two field goals in the eventual Nittany Lion victory. A confident Barker is a great sign for the Nittany Lions, who beat USC in a crucial contest on a game-winning field goal last year.

The punt and kick return units also got plenty of practice with a highlight of King Mack returning a kick all the way to the Nevada 15-yard line. Mack and Hudson were the primary kick returners for the Nittany Lions, a switch from Singleton a year ago.

On punts, which Penn State forced four times throughout the game, transfer receivers Devonte Ross and Trebor Peña were back to receive. Peña caught two of the punts for a combined 10 yards on the returns, both times making the first defender miss. Ross did not get the ball on punts, but he has experience returning them from his time at Troy.

The only questionable part of the Nittany Lions’ special teams play came on a two-point conversion in the third quarter. Third-string quarterback Jaxon Smolik lined up as the kicker before the team spread out, trying to run a play. Smolik was quickly sacked due to the lack of blockers.

“The only thing that was somewhat disgusting was the two-point fake field goal, that was probably the only thing in the game that was disgusting,” Franklin said. “But everything else pretty good.”