Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/892054
O C T O B E R 2 5 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 3 called him "the best all-purpose guy we've probably faced in maybe my career." "I think back when I had Percy Harvin," he continued, referring to the great wide- out from his previous tenure as head coach at Florida. "We did some of that. But his body couldn't take the pounding that a running back takes. "You have different ways of bottling up great running backs. It's hard, especially this guy, really hard. The fact that they mo- tion him out and create matchup night- mares, that's what makes this guy [special]. I would be careful to say this, but he's as good an all-purpose running back as we've seen. And that's 30 years." The Lions also have a quarterback in Trace McSorley whose total offense aver- age (304.7 yards per game) is just behind Barrett's (313.9). They have an array of complementary threats in Mike Gesicki, DaeSean Hamilton and Juwan Johnson. And they have some evidence, in the form of last year's victory over the then-No. 2 Buckeyes, to back up their faith that any- thing is possible. "When you find a way as an organization to beat the No. 2 team in the country – I don't care where you're at in your pro- gram's development – those wins have a big impact from a lot of different perspectives," James Franklin said. "I think that there's definitely awareness from all of us, includ- ing me, that wins like that build confidence, and a confident football team has a chance to develop into a pretty good football team." The Nittany Lions have gone 14-1 since defeating Ohio State last year, so few would dispute that they've become a pretty good football team. But the elements that helped fuel their most recent victory – the bye week to prepare, the noisy home crowd, the ESPN showcase, all of which dovetailed into a 42-13 rout of Michigan – will be working in Ohio State's favor on Saturday. No one is more acutely aware of that reality than Franklin. "It's one thing to win at home in a White Out," he said. "It's one thing to win at home with 'College GameDay' in town and 110,000 [in the stadium]. It's another thing to go on the road and do that. And that's a challenge for our entire program: coaches, players and everything else." J.T. BARRETT Bill Anderson