Blue White Illustrated

O ne of the most important reasons why Penn State entered its game with Michigan this past Saturday ranked second in the country was the spectacular play of Trace McSorley and Saquon Barkley in the 9rst half of the season. Even though Barkley was only able to rush for 75 yards on 16 carries against Northwestern on Oct. 7, he is still con- sidered by many college football watch- ers to be the leading candidate to win the Heisman Trophy. What he accom- plished in the 9rst half of the season was quite remarkable. He was leading the country with an average of 217 all- purpose yards per game, was the Big Ten's third-leading rusher with 649 yards on 102 carries, and was Penn State's leading receiver with 29 catches for 395 yards. No wonder he ranks so high on so many projected Heisman Trophy ballots. McSorley's performance during the 9rst half of the season was nearly as im- pressive as Barkley's. He entered last Saturday's game against the Wolverines as the top-rated passer in the Big Ten, with 130 completions in 194 attempts (67 percent) for 1,597 yards, 13 touch- downs and only four interceptions. His pass-e;ciency rating of 154.1 was third in the conference. It would be easy to assert that Penn State is a one- or two-man team, and indeed, one commentator did make that argument in the preseason, claiming that if not for Barkley, the Nittany Lions would struggle to achieve bowl eligibil- ity. But as it showed in its 31-7 victory over Northwestern, Penn State is a complete team on both o:ense and de- fense. New players have stepped into bigger roles, allowing the Lions to make up for the loss of standouts Chris Godwin, Garrett Sickels, Evan Schwan, John Reid and Malik Golden. Other players are providing depth at key positions, a trend that will need to continue if Penn State hopes to maximize its postseason op- portunities. Let's take a look at where those players have made the biggest impact. QUARTERBACK When Ohio State won the 9rst College Football Playo: in 2014, it illustrated just how important it is to have more than one quarterback on your roster who is capable of excelling against elite opponents. The Buckeyes lost Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett that year, but they were able to win the na- tional championship behind Cardale Jones, who had been their third-string quarterback going into preseason prac- tice. So while McSorley got o: to a strong start this season, backup quarterback Tommy Stevens needed to establish a degree of con9dence, along with an identity and role in Joe Moorhead's of- fense during the September schedule. It appears as though that's exactly what happened. Stevens didn't play in all six of Penn State's games during the 9rst half of the season, but when he was presented with opportunities to show- case his potential, he gave Moorhead and head coach James Franklin a sense of security about the quarterback posi- tion. Coming o: his performance in the Blue-White Game at the conclusion of spring practice, a game in which Stevens completed 17 of 23 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns, Franklin said the following of the redshirt sophomore quarterback: "What you guys are start- ing to see more of, we've been seeing from Stevens in practice all spring. I think we have two quarterbacks we can work with. … I'm glad we have two guys we can feel good about. We can win with both quarterbacks." What Stevens was able to accomplish during the 9rst half of the season should only serve to reinforce that feeling. Heading into the Michigan game, he had competed 9 of 17 passes for 126 yards, with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Saeed Blacknall in the game against Georgia State. Stevens also rushed nine times for 39 yards and one touchdown. But maybe even more important than what he's been able to produce in his more conventional role as Penn State's backup quarterback has been his per- formance as a receiver in Moorhead's RPO spread o:ense. Stevens was used as a red zone receiver against Georgia State and Northwestern and had 10-yard touchdown catches in both of those games. He also had a 5-yard TD run against Akron. Stevens' versatility could play an extremely important role in Penn State's upcoming games. RECEIVER In 2015 and '16, Godwin was Penn State's go-to receiver, 9nishing his career with 153 catches for 2,404 yards and 18 touchdowns. In the Nittany Lions' Big Ten championship run last fall, he had 59 catches for 982 yards and 11 TDs. Coming out of spring practice, Franklin made it clear that Penn State wouldn't try to replace Godwin with just one wide receiver this fall. "You need a guy who's a playmaker, but there are a lot of ways to do it," he said. "We've had guys like [Allen Robinson and Godwin] who have been able to high-point the ball and go get it in tra;c, but you can have other guys who can just blow the top o: the coverage or make people miss and do it that way and go 80 yards, or big, physical guys who can go get it." PHIL'S CORNER There's much more to PSU's success than just the two offensive headliners

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