At the beginning of Don Mattingly’s “Yankeeography” documentary, Yankees play-by-play man Michael Kay described the legendary first baseman this way:
“He was the one shining light in a dark tunnel.”
You’re probably wondering what in the world this has to do with Penn State football and Kaytron Allen.
It’s simple: Allen is that shining light for Penn State.
Now, he’s not the only player who has played well.
Zakee Wheatley (10 touchdowns, interception against Iowa) deserves his flowers.
Vega Ioane has remained a rock on the offensive line.
But of all of the positives, it’s hard to argue Allen isn’t the biggest.
Coming into the season, Penn State was thought by many to be a national championship favorite.
Allen was one of the reasons for that, having been a steady contributor since the beginning of his freshman season in 2022. But for many, Allen was the No. 2 guy in his own backfield, thanks to Nicholas Singleton also coming back.
This has turned into the most disappointing season in Penn State history, and arguably one of the most in college football history.
None of that has anything to do with Allen, but part of it is because Penn State has used him.
Through three games, it was evident that Allen was not just Penn State’s best RB, he was its best offensive player. Here are the numbers:
Singleton: 179 yards on 41 carries (4.36 YPC)
Allen: 273 yards on 34 carries (8.02 YPC).
Penn State should have used part of its bye week to come to its senses and realize that Allen was the No. 1 back and Singleton the No. 2.
It didn’t happen.
Against Mighty Oregon, it looked like Allen might be the guy early on, since he got two carries before Singleton got one.
Then, Singleton got the next nine and didn’t do much with them. By the end of the night, Singleton ran the ball 11 times and gained just 21 yards.
This inspired me to write my first Kaytron Allen-themed column, urging Penn State to “use common sense” and make Allen its No. 1 tailback.
The next week at UCLA, Singleton got the same 11 carries and gained 39 yards. Allen only got eight, but still outgained Singleton, gaining 50.
When Penn State needed to convert a fourth and two to avoid what was, at the time, the worst loss of the James Franklin era (and maybe any era of Penn State football), Allen wasn’t on the field.
Things finally made sense the next week against Northwestern, when Allen got 16 carries to Singleton’s seven.
Considering Allen got 28 carries to Singleton’s six, it’s safe to say Penn State finally wised up.
But it was too late.
The point of this column isn’t to rip Singleton, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki or anybody else. But the context of Allen’s usage is needed to explain how good he’s been, in a year where everything turned so bad.
This is why, when all is said and done, Allen should be remembered as a Penn State legend.
The numbers check out: He’s third on the school’s all-time rushing list and needs 444 yards over the next five games to break Evan Royster’s school record.
Since Penn State finally leaned into Allen as its No. 2 guy, he’s averaged 117.5 yards for game, so if he stays on pace, the record is his.
Being the No. 1 all-time rusher at a school with a great tradition of running backs like Penn State is enough to be a legend.
But the fact that Allen has stayed hot while so much has fallen apart puts him on another level.
In a postgame media scrum after the Iowa loss, Allen had a chance to express his frustration with his efforts not being rewarded with wins.
Not only did he not throw anyone under the bus, he even said that he could have been better.
“It’s hard. I like to win,” Allen said via Lexie Linderman of The Daily Collegian. “I love to win, and I could have done something better for my team to get the dub so I could have done something better.”
Allen couldn’t have done better.
If everybody Penn State had were at his level, the team would still be undefeated, James Franklin would still be the head coach and the Nov. 1 clash at Ohio State would be a battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2.
Instead, PSU has none of that.
But it has Kaytron Allen, and for that, everybody should be thankful.
