Ah, the Governor’s Victory Bell. The most coveted trophy in all of sport.
After all, Minnesota and Penn State play only once every three years or so, so that makes the rivalry that much more intense, right?
When the Gophers travel to Beaver Stadium at 3:30 p.m. today, it will be the 14th meeting for the squads since the game’s inception in 1993. Penn State won the first four games, then Minnesota won the next four, then Penn State reclaimed the bell for the next four. With Minnesota winning the most recent meeting in 2013, well, perhaps the pattern is bound to repeat.
There’s a good chance of that happening if the Nittany Lions can’t make their run game run again.
Despite having one of the best running backs in Football Bowl Subdivision in sophomore Saquon Barkley, Penn State ranks last in the Big Ten Conference and 122 of 128 FBS teams in rushing offense with just 405 yards on 134 attempts. The Nittany Lions are averaging 3 yards per carry and 101.3 per game.
“We need to be better. There’s no doubt,” Penn State coach James Franklin said, though he added the statistics were probably a bit skewed because of the 49-10 loss at Michigan a week ago. “We have played some very physical defense. You look at Pitt. They have not allowed anybody to run the ball on them this year. You look at Michigan. They are one of the better defenses in the country.
“I think we are improved on the offensive line, but we need to be better in our pass protection on obvious passing downs, and we need to be more physical,” Franklin said. “We’re getting a hat on a hat, but we’re not creating movement, so we need to do that. We need to create more movement. We need to create more space because we’ve all seen that Saquon can be effective when he’s given a little bit of room.”
While Barkley has the second-most carries in the conference with 66, he’s 10th with 79.3 yards per game, 40 yards behind the top spot. Franklin said his star back has some work to do as well to improve the run game.
“Saquon, I think, could be a little bit better [at] not trying to make every run an 80-yard touchdown,” Franklin said. “You have to be willing to lower your shoulder and run people over or get in a gap and push the pile for 4 or 5 yards. I think he’s been trying to make the extra cut every single run, and there will be a time and a place for that.”
So, in other words, Barkley is like that age-old answer to a classic job-interview question — his biggest weakness is that he cares too much.
Barkley said he has had the mentality of trying to score every time he touches the ball since high school, and he needs to work more on “taking what the defense gives him.” And, while he certainly is not the sole reason why the rush has not been living up to expectations — a leaky offensive line also might have a little something to do with it — Barkley refused to blame anyone but himself.
“If the run game’s not working, it’s on you. You’ve got to find some way somehow to do it to make it work,” Barkley said. “I would not say I’m frustrated with the way the offense is going. The only thing I could say I’m frustrated about is losing.”
Redshirt senior center Brian Gaia, though, said the offensive line definitely has room to improve in order to help the run game. That starts with being tougher and having the mindset to see plays through to the end.
“Finishing, obviously, is going to give us a lot more push, a lot bigger holes for Saquon and all those other running backs to get through,” Gaia said. “He’s a game-changing player. So that affects it a little bit, but a lot of this comes down to us.”
Megan Ryan: mryan@post-gazette.com and Twitter @theothermegryan.
First Published: September 30, 2016, 6:20 p.m.
