diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager.go b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager.go
index caa3de666c7..4e9501da4e3 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager.go
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import (
 	internalapi "k8s.io/cri-api/pkg/apis"
 	podresourcesapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/apis/podresources/v1alpha1"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/cm/cpuset"
-	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/cm/topologymanager"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/config"
 	kubecontainer "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/container"
 	evictionapi "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/eviction/api"
@@ -111,8 +110,8 @@ type ContainerManager interface {
 	// due to node recreation.
 	ShouldResetExtendedResourceCapacity() bool
 
-	// GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler returns an instance of the TopologyManager for Pod Admission
-	GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler() topologymanager.Manager
+	// GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler returns an instance of a PodAdmitHandler responsible for allocating pod resources.
+	GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler() lifecycle.PodAdmitHandler
 
 	// UpdateAllocatedDevices frees any Devices that are bound to terminated pods.
 	UpdateAllocatedDevices()
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_linux.go b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_linux.go
index 5de1d0a25d3..f962c298c7c 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_linux.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_linux.go
@@ -672,15 +672,51 @@ func (cm *containerManagerImpl) GetResources(pod *v1.Pod, container *v1.Containe
 }
 
 func (cm *containerManagerImpl) UpdatePluginResources(node *schedulernodeinfo.NodeInfo, attrs *lifecycle.PodAdmitAttributes) error {
-	err := cm.deviceManager.Allocate(attrs.Pod)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
 	return cm.deviceManager.UpdatePluginResources(node, attrs)
 }
 
-func (cm *containerManagerImpl) GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler() topologymanager.Manager {
-	return cm.topologyManager
+func (cm *containerManagerImpl) GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler() lifecycle.PodAdmitHandler {
+	if utilfeature.DefaultFeatureGate.Enabled(kubefeatures.TopologyManager) {
+		return cm.topologyManager
+	}
+	// TODO: we need to think about a better way to do this. This will work for
+	// now so long as we have only the cpuManager and deviceManager relying on
+	// allocations here. However, going forward it is not generalized enough to
+	// work as we add more and more hint providers that the TopologyManager
+	// needs to call Allocate() on (that may not be directly intstantiated
+	// inside this component).
+	return &resourceAllocator{cm.cpuManager, cm.deviceManager}
+}
+
+type resourceAllocator struct {
+	cpuManager    cpumanager.Manager
+	deviceManager devicemanager.Manager
+}
+
+func (m *resourceAllocator) Admit(attrs *lifecycle.PodAdmitAttributes) lifecycle.PodAdmitResult {
+	pod := attrs.Pod
+
+	for _, container := range append(pod.Spec.InitContainers, pod.Spec.Containers...) {
+		err := m.deviceManager.Allocate(pod, &container)
+		if err != nil {
+			return lifecycle.PodAdmitResult{
+				Message: fmt.Sprintf("Allocate failed due to %v, which is unexpected", err),
+				Reason:  "UnexpectedAdmissionError",
+				Admit:   false,
+			}
+		}
+
+		err = m.cpuManager.Allocate(pod, &container)
+		if err != nil {
+			return lifecycle.PodAdmitResult{
+				Message: fmt.Sprintf("Allocate failed due to %v, which is unexpected", err),
+				Reason:  "UnexpectedAdmissionError",
+				Admit:   false,
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return lifecycle.PodAdmitResult{Admit: true}
 }
 
 func (cm *containerManagerImpl) SystemCgroupsLimit() v1.ResourceList {
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_stub.go b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_stub.go
index c21e8cce0dc..5c0caa635eb 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_stub.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_stub.go
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@ func (cm *containerManagerStub) ShouldResetExtendedResourceCapacity() bool {
 	return cm.shouldResetExtendedResourceCapacity
 }
 
-func (cm *containerManagerStub) GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler() topologymanager.Manager {
-	return nil
+func (cm *containerManagerStub) GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler() lifecycle.PodAdmitHandler {
+	return topologymanager.NewFakeManager()
 }
 
 func (cm *containerManagerStub) UpdateAllocatedDevices() {
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_windows.go b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_windows.go
index 13271b98c91..813d13620a7 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_windows.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/cm/container_manager_windows.go
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ func (cm *containerManagerImpl) ShouldResetExtendedResourceCapacity() bool {
 	return false
 }
 
-func (cm *containerManagerImpl) GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler() topologymanager.Manager {
+func (cm *containerManagerImpl) GetTopologyPodAdmitHandler() lifecycle.PodAdmitHandler {
 	return nil
 }