Saquon Barkley made the Iowa Hawkeyes look quite silly as the Penn State Nittany Lions running back took it to the house
There aren’t many teams in college football hotter than the Penn State Nittany Lions right now. Coming into their Week 10 matchup with the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Nittany Lions had won four-straight Big Ten games, including their upset of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Needless to say, a disappointing Iowa team was outmatched from the start. Then Penn State running back Saquon Barkley got rolling and it just stopped being even remotely fair.
With Penn State having built a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, they were starting to drive early in the second. Rather than chip away at the Hawkeyes, Barkley thought it better to just wrap it up with one play.
Lined up in the shotgun to the left of quarterback Trace McSorley, Barkley took a sweep out to the left. Once he got the edge, a would-be tackler got onto the Penn State back’s legs. However, the electric sophomore powered through that with ease. He then cut the run back to the inside to beat a host of defenders. With one more cut, he was back outside and had one man to beat. He muscled through the final hope for Iowa to complete the monstrous 57-yard touchdown:
".@PennStateFball is lucky.Why?It has @saquonb21.#BTNStandout https://t.co/c2azBCNlpO— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 6, 2016"
If you didn’t already know, the Nittany Lions have a star on their hands.
Next: 20 Greatest College Running Backs In The Modern Era
College football in 2016 was billed as the year of the running back. That was largely thanks to players like Leonard Fournette, Dalvin Cook, Christian McCaffrey, and so on. However, Barkley belongs in that same tier. Even better, though, is that we get at least one more year of him showcasing his talents as he’s merely a sophomore.