Blue White Illustrated

O c T O B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . c O M 12 T I M O W E N | O W E N . T I M . B W I @ g M A I L . c O M Watching from the stands a few years ago as a four-star recruit, Saquon Barkley dreamed about moments like this. Saturday night in Beaver Stadium, the sophomore running back lived it. Trailing Minnesota by three points in overtime, the Nittany Lions handed the ball off to their leading rusher on their first offensive play of the extra period. Barkley took the carry le? before cutting back inside. Then he ran untouched 25 yards into the end zone for the winning touchdown. In front of 95,332 fans, it spurred PSU to a comeback victory over the Gophers, 29-26. "It's like a dream, something I visual- ized when I was a recruit, scoring a touchdown in the game for the team," Barkley said. "I was fortunate enough and I was blessed enough to get into the end zone. It was one of the greatest feel- ings of my life." It was Barkley's only score of the game, and it was also his longest run. He had also rushed for a 23-yard gain in the first quarter, so subtract those two big gains and Barkley finished with only 15 yards on 18 carries. He also had only one catch for minus-3 yards. But when it mattered most, he came through. He might have been frustrated by the lack of production earlier on in the game, but speaking to reporters in the postgame media room, Barkley took the positive with the negative. "I didn't have a bad game, [but] I didn't have a great game, I feel like," Barkley said. "But overall we won the game and the offense did a great job." Head coach James Franklin said Barkley's spirit and energy allowed him to make the game-clinching play Going into Saturday, Barkley's season rushing average (79.3 yards per game) was among the worst of starting running backs in the Big Ten. Rather than being discouraged by the totals, however, his coaches have seen the native of Coplay, Pa., push forward. "I'm really proud of Saquon because he's handled adversity and you've never seen bad body language from him, ever," Franklin said. "He's not having the big games, statistics like people anticipated or expected. You haven't seem him once have bad body language, hang his head – nothing. He's been a great team player." It's one reason why the coaching staff was looking to go back to him on the game's final play, despite a slower-than- usual performance that preceded it. "That's what happens when you keep a great attitude and you keep believing and being a great teammate," Franklin said. "So I'm really proud of him." For Barkley, the total number of yards isn't something he'll dwell on. Instead he'll bask in his TD, another to add to his league-leading total of seven on the season. Though he might not have posted the yardage that he hoped, he'll take a score any day, especially if it's a game-winner. "I was just really exited to get in the end zone and be able to step up for my team," Barkley said. "The line did a great job of getting me in a situation where I was one-on-one with the safety. As a run- ning back, you've got to make that guy miss. That's something that [the coaches have] stressed. I was fortunate enough to win that one-on-one and be able to score." Through five games, Barkley has a total of 380 yards. COMING UP BIG Saquon Barkley finds ample running room on the final play of the game Barkley heads downfield against Min- nesota. He had runs of 23 and 25 yards against the Golden Go- phers. Photo by Steve Manuel PSUtixman@gmail.com www.PSUtixman.com Get your PSU Football Tickets at go t ti cke t s? k c i t t t e k man@g .PSUtixm www.PSUtixman.com at ootba Get yo k c i t t o gm .PSUtixman.com all ur s t s e k

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