Blue White Illustrated

P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> limit us offensively and to limit Saquon Barkley," Franklin said. "The thing that is great is that we have enough weapons that people are going to overload the box, or they're going to have that linebacker to the field and they're either going to late blitz him or late fold him back in, and we're going to throw him the ball." The Lions' statistics have borne out Franklin's assertion. While Barkley's average of 108.2 yards per game on the ground was good for 18th nationally, his contributions in other as- pects were differentiating factors. With 29 catches for 395 yards and two touch- downs through the air, Barkley was lead- ing the Nittany Lions in both receptions and receiving yards. He also had eight kickoff returns for 258 yards through six games, contributing to an average of 217.0 all-purpose yards per game, best in the Football Bowl Subdivision. In the Big Ten, those numbers put Barkley among the leaders in rushing, re- ceptions per game, receiving yards per game, touchdowns scored, kick-return average and all-purpose yards. Tossing a halfback pass to DaeSean Hamilton for a 16-yard touchdown late in the Lions' 45- 14 win against Indiana, Barkley secured a quadfecta, adding to his rushing, receiv- ing and kick return touchdowns in the season's first four games. The remarkable comprehensiveness of Barkley's production is unmatched by any other player in the conference. But Franklin has pushed for a team-wide mindset that encourages selflessness and maturity. "We've got obviously the most explo- sive player in college football," he said. "We have an offense that doesn't panic. We've got coaches who don't panic. It's not like we start getting frustrated when things aren't working as well as we would like. We stick with the game plan. "Saquon doesn't get frustrated. You never see bad body language. You never see him coming to the sideline fussing at the O-line." When he watches football, Franklin said he sees those things every week at every level of the game – running backs yelling at their offensive linemen or coaches after a tackle for loss. But Barkley consistently does the opposite. The program's best current player and a contender for all- time-great status, he prefers to use en- couragement to coax the best out of Penn State's offense. "He's never once asked for the ball more. He's never said, 'Give me more op- portunities, give me more touches.' Never once. He's never fussed at his linemen. It's all been positive support," Franklin said. "He's never fussed at the coaches, he's never fussed at anybody. He knows that if he stays patient and sticks with what we do, his plays will come. And if they don't, someone else will make plays to allow us to win. He's an unselfish guy who gets the big picture in a circumstance that probably most guys wouldn't. A lot of attention is on Saquon Barkley right now, and Saquon Barkley's focus and at- tention are on the team." Barkley's teammates have taken note. Asked to comment on his offensive line, a unit that has experienced its own share of frustrations given another series of un- timely injuries, Barkley immediately vouched for the group's performance. Giving credit instead to the defensive op- ponents determined to prevent his suc- cess, the running back noted that the schemes being copied have maybe blunted some of his numbers, but not the one that matters most to him. After achieving six consecutive wins heading into the Michigan game, the Lions are determined to continue using the approach that has brought them suc- cess during the past two seasons. If that approach requires game-deciding contri- butions from a variety of players rather than an outsized contribution from just one, everyone is OK with that – including Barkley. "It's part of football. It's part of the running game. It's part of being a run- ning back. You know a lot of teams are going to key on you," he said. "A lot of teams have been keying on our run game in recent weeks trying to stop the run. But if you try to stop the run, we have so many other weapons. We have a great of- fensive coordinator, a great offensive staff and a great offensive team. If we can continue to play on a high cylinder in all three phases of the game, we'll continue to succeed." ■ SAQUON BARKLEY GAME-BY-GAME RUSHING RECEIVING KICK RETURNS OPP ATT YDS TD LG AVG REC YDS TD LG ATT YDS TD LG Akron 14 172 2 80 12.3 3 54 0 43 1 20 0 20 Pittsburgh 14 88 1 22 6.3 4 45 1 46 2 50 0 32 Georgia State 10 47 0 33 4.7 4 142 1 85 1 37 0 37 Iowa 28 211 1 44 7.5 12 94 0 15 3 53 0 24 Indiana 20 56 0 8 2.8 4 51 0 36 1 98 1 98 Northwestern 16 75 2 53 4.7 2 9 0 8 0 – – – TOTAL 102 649 6 80 6.4 29 395 2 85 8 258 1 98

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