PSU enjoys short-yardage success with old-school formation
When the Penn State offense rolled out the old-school T formation in the opener at Purdue, many at Ross-Ade Stadium did a double take.
Some might have scoffed at the Nittany Lions’ retro look, but no longer. It has been mostly successful in short-yardage situations and has helped them convert 17 of 25 fourth-down attempts.
Nick Singleton ran for touchdowns of 45 and 27 yards out of the formation on fourth down in last week’s 30-0 victory over Maryland.
“It went from a few plays to now it’s a very extensive package that can score anywhere,” quarterback Sean Clifford said. “It’s impressive. It’s a great package. I think it does really well in short-yardage situations. Obviously it has big-play potential, especially when you have guys like Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen. It makes it even better.”
Penn State hasn’t tracked how many times it has used the T formation. In those situations, the Lions take out the wide receivers and use tight ends Brenton Strange, Theo
Johnson and Tyler Warren with Singleton and Allen.
Johnson and Warren line up on the outside of the tackles, with Strange in the middle of the backfield flanked by Singleton and Allen.
“The first thing is it’s balanced,” coach James Franklin said. “So defensively they have to defend runs to the right, runs to the left, runs in the middle. So wherever you show weaknesses, we have the ability to attack. And then you have to defend throws to the right, throws to the left, play-actions, keepers.”
In the first quarter against Maryland,
Penn State had fourth-and-1 from the Terrapins’ 45. Singleton lined up on the left side of the T, took a handoff, followed blocks by Allen, Strange and Warren into the open field and sprinted to the end zone.
“You don’t really expect (to score),” guard Hunter Nourzad said, “because it’s kind of just a gritty play where we’re trying to get a yard or two to get the first down. But when you have backs that can run like ours do, and they can make those cuts, it offers up a lot of opportunities for us to get more than just the one or two yards.”
In the second quarter, the Lions had fourth-and-1 from the Maryland 27 and lined up the same way. Singleton took the ball from Clifford, cut inside blocks from Allen and Strange, found a crease and dragged a defensive back the last 10 yards into the end zone.
Singleton’s speed makes the formation even more effective. With defenses crowding the line, he just needs to break one level and he’s off.
The freshman backs have made an impact. Singleton has run for 801 yards and 10 TDs, a school record for freshmen. Allen has rushed for 631 yards and eight TDs.