Christian Hackenberg, the junior quarterback who’s supposed to have the stuff that could make him a No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, hasn’t performed up to expectations over the past two seasons. In my preseason forecast of seven wins, I included a loss to Penn State (and absolutely woeful Maryland), so it’s not as if a bowl bid hangs in the balance on Saturday, necessarily. “At this point in the season, we always say by the fifth game of the year, those guys need to take that step, and that’s what’s happening”. Any evaluation of Penn State ranges from “not good” to “kind of fine” depending on what data you use. Especially regarding the Nittany Lions’ shorthanded, slumping offense. He thinks Ohio State is a team that will be in the hunt to win championships this season.
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With Barkley, Penn State has been more capable of operating a reined-in offense to which it adjusted post-Temple. But I think there is a concern at Penn State right now that no one really knows what, exactly, Franklin is trying to sell us, and whether it’s merely an empty pitch for a subpar product.
Barkley’s potential return to the Penn State offense is welcome news for a unit that ranks 73rd in the country in rushing.
Saturday’s opponent, Indiana, is not one of them. Against Rutgers, he had 21 carries for 195 yards and two touchdowns.
By “explosiveness” I mean SBN’s own Bill Connelly’s measurement of how long a successful play is.
Reaves arrived on campus in time for both of Penn State’s summer sessions, a move that has him ahead, Chambers said. However, when they do succeed, they’re doing so with big plays. “I don’t know how they do it, but they have somewhere around 13 guys around the line of scrimmage every single play”. I get how the fans feel. Make no mistake, those runs still happened, and highlight how important explosiveness is to scoring points and how it can render a lot of other great efforts moot.
Franklin didn’t have any on the field last week against Army, and the result was nothing short of an very bad offensive performance-the Nittany Lions picked up just 264 total yards against a Knights defense that had previously given up more than 400 against the likes of Fordham and Eastern Michigan.
One of Penn State’s most explosive players, Saquon Barkley, missed the Army game with an injury.
At Wednesday’s practice, Franklin temporarily suspended his embargo, confirming that freshman running back Saquon Barkley was a limited participant.
The fact that the absence of Barkley, a true freshman, can so dramatically change the fortunes of the offense is an illustration of a big problem for Penn State: Outside of this one player, the offense still is struggling to function.
The October 17 primetime matchup between Penn State and Ohio State in Columbus will air on ABC at 8 p.m. Further, Penn State has scored on eight of the 14 drives that Barkley started.
“We played a few really good possession hockey in the first half and we talked about achieving our goals for the game at halftime, but sadly we just didn’t come back out and play the second half with the same intensity”.
While Howard doesn’t have the open-field prowess or speed of Tevin Coleman, his ability to keep the Hoosiers on schedule is unmatched. Which helps offset the running game’s lack of explosion.
Indiana coach Kevin Wilson hasn’t tipped his hand about how close either of them might be to returning, but Franklin gave his opinion on the matter.
Likewise, Indiana is dealing with backfield injuries as well. “[The Indiana coaching staff feels] like they have the depth and the size and the talent that they have been looking for since they got there”. You develop game depth.
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Senior Alicia Ostrander had only played in four sets before this past weekend, but she played a significant role against both Penn State and Ohio State.
