Blue White Illustrated

S ince Penn State's meteoric return to national relevance in 2016, the hallmark of the Nittany Lions' o6ense has been picking up chunk plays by getting the ball in the hands of its best players. In 2019, the best players are di6erent – nothing new in a sport with such tremendous turnover from year to year. But there is one speci5c aspect of Penn State's personnel that is unique com- pared to the past three seasons. For the 5rst time since Saquon Barkley became the bell cow midway through his freshman campaign in 2015, Penn State is without a feature back. In fact, on all three depth charts released thus far this season, a bolded "OR" has denoted that the top four running backs – Journey Brown, Ricky Slade, Devyn Ford and Noah Cain – are, in the eyes of the coaching sta6, equal. "We felt, like I said during camp and media days with you guys, that we have four guys that we think we can play with and win with," James Franklin told re- porters prior to his team's victory over Bu6alo in week two. Through three games, Franklin was true to that statement. The four running backs combined for 61 carries. Brown was leading the way with 21 rushing at- tempts, while Ford and Slade had the fewest with 12 apiece. But they scored nine touchdowns between them and, for the most part, had done well to aid Sean Cli6ord in his 5rst three starts. When asked whether a back5eld situa- tion like Penn State's is di7cult to man- age, Franklin had a di6erent view. "No, I actually think the opposite," he said at his midweek press conference prior to Penn State's clash with Pitt. "There are a lot of people who are get- ting opportunities to make an impact in the game. I think that creates a healthy position, and I think that creates a healthy locker room." While that may be true, especially given that all four running backs were highly touted coming out of high school, the equitable sharing of carries is espe- cially noteworthy when considering the past three seasons. In each season, the lead back accounted for no less than 72 percent of Penn State's carries by run- ning backs. Through three games this year, Brown was leading the group with only 34 percent of the RB carries. Certainly, game situations have af- fected and skewed those 5gures. The season opener against Idaho became uncompetitive by the second quarter, and Slade saw a severe drop-o6 in touches a8er a pair of fumbles against Bu6alo – a problem that plagued him during his time as Miles Sanders' backup in 2018. But Franklin has also o6ered reason to believe the trend will continue deep into the season, if not for the entirety of it. "I think as the season goes on, there are going to be weeks when it's going to get tricky and there's going to be a guy that gets hot that you go with," he said. "But obviously, whenever we can play multiple backs and they all have success and all score touchdowns... [it's] pretty special. So at this point, I think it's working extremely well, but obviously it's very early in the season." Of course, there are bene5ts and draw- backs to this approach. One of the bene- 5ts is that rotating backs means they'll be fresh when defenses are worn down late in games. That could also be a bonus CROWD PLEASER James Franklin has been finding ways to keep four RBs active and involved in the Nittany Lion offense JUDGMENT CALL game against longtime rival Syracuse now that both schools are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coastal Division. "We have rivalry games," Narduzzi said. "We'll make [another] one. We'll make one if we have to. Shoot, we made one back in the day when I was [defensive coordinator] at Cincinnati. The River City Rivalry, wasn't that what it was called, some- thing like the River City Rivalry? We'll make one up. We'll get a trophy made… and go play." The River City Rivalry was between Cincinnati and Pitt, back when both schools were in the Big East. And yes, it had a trophy. The Paddlewheel Trophy weighed 95 pounds and fea- tured illuminated logos of both schools built into a brass telegraph taken from a steamship. But the an- nual series lasted less than a decade, one of the casualties of the Big East's disintegration. The Penn State-Pitt rivalry is a whole different enterprise. There's nothing manufactured about it. When fans aren't arguing about something that happened on the field, they're ar- guing about something that happened off the field. This is a series in which the bureaucratic machinations have been as contentious as the games, dating back to Pitt's abandonment of Joe Paterno's proposed Eastern all- sports conference in the early 1980s, if not before. Can it be revived someday? There's nothing on the horizon, and possibly nothing beyond the horizon, either. But with deputy athletic director Scott Sidwell looking on from the back of the Beaver Stadium media room, Franklin refused to rule any- thing out. "We're open to having discussions, but it's got to make sense for both par- ties," he said. "It's got to make sense for Pitt. It's got to make sense for Penn State. … We're open to talking about all different concepts and options. Scott Sidwell is in the back, and his phone is open for conversations." ■

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