Blue White Illustrated

S E P T E M B E R 2 3 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 17 There are two very important points I want to make about James Franklin and his coaching staff coming off of Satur- day's impressive 28-3 victory over Rut- gers. 1.) A few days before the game, I wrote a very critical analysis on BWI's website detailing why Penn State's offensive strategy was one of the main reasons why it lost its opening game to Temple. I believed that the offensive game plan and the way it was executed didn't take advantage of the offensive underclass- man talent this team possesses. Penn State has some of the best underclass- men in the Big Ten and a quarterback in Christian Hackenberg who is a pure pro-style QB. A "read option" style of running game with slow developing plays just wasn't destined to work, especially with an of- fensive line that lacked confidence and really had not established an identity during the 2014 season. It was Rutgers, in a 13-10 loss to Penn State last September, that identified the Nittany Lions' No. 1 weakness on of- fense and exposed it to the rest of the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights figured out that if you put eight people in the box and blitzed against both the run and the pass, Penn State's offense would dis- solve because it simply wasn't able to run the football. Well, as Saquon Barkley and Akeel Lynch proved Saturday night, things certainly have changed three games into the 2015 season. Barkley and Lynch combined to rush for 315 yards on 31 carries, averaging 10.2 yards per carry with three rushing TDs against the Scarlet Knights. The great storyline here is that all the success Penn State had running the ball occurred because it went aCer Rutgers' eight-man front using a pro style attack with Hacken- berg under center. There were no slow- developing running plays. The plan was to use the entire field, sideline to side- line, and attack Rutgers with a fast- striking downhill running game. The Nittany Lions just kept attacking, at- tacking, attacking downhill all game with their running attack. ACer Penn State took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard TD run on a fly sweep by DeAndre Thompkins, Rutgers' eight-men-in-the-box strat- egy was no more because Penn State had already surpassed its rushing total of 64 yards on 33 carries from last year's game against the Scarlet Knights. The Nittany Lions had already rushed for 65 yards with Barkley and Lynch, and this time Hackenberg didn't have to run for his life as he did last year, rushing 12 times for 18 yards as he sought to avoid Rutgers' blitzes. It was the perfect offensive game plan in that it took full advantage of Barkley and Lynch. Their performance, in turn, took pressure off of Hackenberg to be the savior of Penn State's anemic and struggling offense and allowed the of- fensive line to gain some confidence and prove to itself that under the right cir- cumstances and with the correct offen- sive game plan, it was not totally devoid of talent. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to diminish the impact that Barkley had on Penn State's offense against the Scarlet Knights. There is no question that he was the fuse that set off the powder keg. ACer watching Saturday's game, just like everyone else, I believe Barkley has the potential to become Penn State's next great running back. But it is way too early to start comparing him to for- mer Penn State All-America running backs such as Larry Johnson, Ki-Jana Carter or Curt Warner. (Matt Millen made the latter comparison during BTN's broadcast of the game.) Somewhere down the line, that might all come into play, but for now let's just watch Barkley's talent de- velop and conjure up in our minds the problems he is going to create for the rest of Penn State's 2015 opponents. He is already Penn State's biggest run- ning back at 5-foot-11, 222 pounds, and he makes everyone around him better on offense, especially the offen- sive line and even Hackenberg. He has power, explosive cutting ability, pa- tience, quickness, vision, and best of all, he's decisive once the opening re- veals itself at the point of attack. Bar- ley is one special talent. 2.) I love the way Franklin and his staff are building a complete football team, one that is full of talent in all three phases of the game. This isn't the be- ginning of a team that wants to base its winning edge based solely on offense, defense or special teams. Except for the years leading up to the 1982 national championship team and the undefeated 1994 Rose Bowl team, I can't remember a Penn State team that boasted such an array of young talent. There still is a long way to go before that time arrives, but it is quite obvious to me Franklin doesn't subscribe to the notion that you win league champi- onships solely on offense, defense or special teams. Each entity has an equal footing in a team's level of success. He wants to be three-deep at every posi- tion in each area and have competition at each position on a daily basis. That takes time. So, Penn State fans need to keep their expectations realistic and show some patience. I'm not expecting a run at the Big Ten East Division title this season, but I do think this emerging Penn State team, with 55 players on its football scholarship roster with sophomore and freshman eligibility, can make some real noise over the next few months. Game plan vs. Rutgers capitalized on PSU's abundance of young talent PHIL'S CORNER

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