Nick Singleton, Penn State's run game challenge No. 5 Michigan

By RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Writer

If fans of Penn State were boisterous to start the season, they certainly have a legitimate reason to feel good about things entering Week 7.

That's because the No. 10 Nittany Lions, undefeated at 5-0, have a real chance to pull an upset at No. 5 Michigan (6-0) on Saturday (Noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app). The reason for optimism in Happy Valley is simple — Penn State has returned to its roots, pushed via the talents of true freshman running back Nick Singleton. 

This might not seem surprising when examining Singleton's credentials — he was National Gatorade Player of the Year at Governor Mifflin High School in Shillington, Pennsylvania, after all, rushing for more than 2,000 yards with 44 TDs as a senior in 2021.

But the turnaround is remarkable when you consider this: Penn State managed to play the entire season in 2021 without a single 100-yard rusher. That's a dubious feat that had not been "achieved" in State College since the 1960s. Gone were the recent days of Saquon Barkley striking fear into the hearts of opposing fan bases just by lining up seven-and–a-half yards deep in the backfield. Long gone were the days — 20 years ago, in fact — since Larry Johnson Jr. rushed for 2,000 yards as a senior at PSU.

What’s more? Heading into the 2021 season, Penn State coach James Franklin said he expected the offensive line to be a strength of his team. But when I spoke with him at Big Ten Media Days before the start of this season, he refused to make such a proclamation.

"I've come to the Big Ten Media Days every year and talked about this is going to be the year … I'm not doing that this year," Franklin said. "I'm gonna let the proof be in the pudding. I'll let you tell me at the middle of the season where we're at. And whatever you say will be gospel."

Well, let me be one of those to say at the midpoint of the season, your offensive line and run game have been good, Coach Franklin. But that’s not an accident.

"It's our commitment to the running game," Franklin told me last July. "It's being able to run on normal downs. It's being able to run on short-yardage situations, goal-line, four-minute. 

"That's a commitment in the offseason, that's development of the offensive line and then that's running backs having a mentality that wants the scheme or the players up front get you to the free linebacker or get you to the free safety. Now you got to do your job, you gotta make that one guy miss."

Since Singleton began rushing behind that O-line, he has answered the call to make defenders miss, winning those one-on-one situations. So have his cohorts in that running back room, including Kaytron Allen and Keyvone Lee. The Nittany Lions have produced three 100-yard rushers in their first five games, and Singleton has accounted for two himself, including a 179-yard outing on just 10 carries against Ohio.

He followed up that performance with 124 yards on, again, just 10 carries, en route a 42-10 victory at Auburn, making the Nittany Lions the first Big Ten program to win at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

It’s clear to me that if the Nittany Lions are going to continue their undefeated start to the season, Singleton is going to be at the center of it, just as Michigan running back Blake Corum has been for the Wolverines from the jump.

With 124 yards on 25 carries against Indiana last week, Corum became the first Michigan tailback to rush for at least 120 yards in each of UM’s first three league games in the last quarter-century. With Corum in the backfield, Jim Harbaugh has been afforded the luxury of carrying the QB derby between Cade McNamara — last year’s starter and captain — and former five-star recruit J.J. McCarthy into the regular season.

Halfway through the season, Corum is on pace to finish the regular season with nearly 1,500 rushing yards more than six yards per carry, as the Wolverines attempt to defend their first Big Ten title in nearly two decades.

What’s more? The 735 rush yards he’s picked up this year as the feature back aren’t empty. He has shown himself capable of being both the ignition for the offense to begin firing and its most capable closer when the game needs to be put away.

So far, he has been at his best at home, rushing for 478 yards and nine TDs at Michigan Stadium. With the nation’s fifth-best rush defense traveling to the Big House this Saturday, he’ll have to be again.

Manny Diaz’s defense has allowed an average of just 79.6 rushing yards per game, and you can bet he’ll try to force McCarthy to beat his defense by throwing the ball as often as possible, while also continuing their trend of taking the ball away from opposing offenses.

The Nittany Lions have notched 11 takeaways over their last three games. Perhaps this game will come down to the running backs once again, and the one who has the better showing — Singleton or Corum — will also be on the winning team.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The Number One College Football Show." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube.