What’s ailing Penn State’s offense? It’s anyone’s guess, including the team’s offensive coordinator.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State’s once-dynamic offense has faltered this season.

During last year’s College Football Playoff run, the unit ranked 26th in the nation in total offense. Andy Kotelnicki’s flashy play calling enabled Drew Allar to take deep shots, Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen to each rush for over 1,000 yards, and Tyler Warren to win the Mackey Award as college football’s best tight end.

But the Nittany Lions’ offensive production has plummeted through seven games. The group has gone from averaging 430.2 yards per game to just 355, which ranks 97th among Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

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So, what has gone wrong?

“I don’t know,” said Kotelnicki, the team’s offensive coordinator. “The reality is it hasn’t gone like we’re hoping. And what do you do? You go to the next play, you go to the next game, you go to the next moment and opportunity. I don’t have a good explanation for where [the offense] is.”

Penn State has passed for 250 yards just twice through Kotelnicki’s 23 games as offensive coordinator, its last such performance coming last October.

The offense has thrown for fewer than 150 passing yards in three of its seven games this season. Against Iowa, first-time starter Ethan Grunkemeyer finished with a 93 yards, the lowest passing mark for Penn State this year. His longest pass was for 14 yards.

Allar’s 67-yard completion to Devonte Ross, a drag route the speedy receiver turned into a big gain against Florida International, is the team’s longest pass play this season.

Interim head coach Terry Smith wants that to change.

“On offense, we continue to not be able to throw the ball down the field, or even throw the ball in the intermediate zone,” Smith said. “We’ve gotta get that fixed.”

But it’s not just the passing game.

Nick Singleton, who rushed 172 times for a career-best 1,099 yards in 2024, has struggled to find rushing lanes in 2025. The senior running back is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry compared to 6.8 in his freshman campaign and 6.4 last season.

Singleton is known for his speed, but he has yet to break a run longer than 16 yards and has eclipsed 50 rushing yards just twice through seven games.

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Smith said he wants to get Singleton going. Kotelnicki said Singleton’s superpower is finding lanes and hitting them with speed.

“[Nick] has great speed,” Kotelnicki said. “We need to do a good job of getting him on the perimeter, allowing him to get some edges where his speed can show up.”

With Allar lost for the season, Grunkemeyer will quarterback the Nittany Lions’ offense in Columbus against No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 1 (noon, Fox 29), before facing No. 2 Indiana at Beaver Stadium on Nov. 8. The redshirt sophomore completed 15 of his 28 pass attempts and threw two interceptions in Penn State’s 25-24 loss to Iowa last Saturday.

But considering the circumstances, starting his first college game in a tough road environment, Grunkemeyer’s performance wasn’t all bad. At least in Kotelnicki’s view.

“There are things that he does really well with his feet. He makes quick decisions, and he goes. That was evident,” Kotelnicki said of Grunkemeyer. “There were some opportunities that he missed or got off the read too fast, but those are things you would expect to say about somebody who got their first career start.”

Kotelnicki’s confidence stems from Grunkemeyer’s preparation while serving as the team’s QB2. The second and third tests of that preparation: The nation’s No. 1 and No. 4 scoring defenses.

Kotelnicki said he is “pleased” with the direction his young quarterback is trending in entering the team’s toughest stretch.

“I [anticipate] that through this bye week and the next week, there’s a ton of growth from start one to start two,” Kotelnicki said. “How we practiced, how we prepared him, the number of reps we’ve gotten him through all the spring and in the moments where he’s gotten into games has prepared him for how he’s going to handle those things.”

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