Saquon Barkley only needed three carries to bury Michigan (Video)

Saquon Barkley needed a big game against the Michigan Wolverines, and he asserted his dominance by taking two of his first three carries to the house

Most would concur that Saquon Barkley was the leading Heisman Trophy candidate heading into his Penn State Nittany Lions’ matchup against the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday night. However, the running back needed to show something.

Against Northwestern and Indiana before them, Barkley hadn’t looked his normally dominant self. Yes, he had flash plays — a 98-yard kickoff return vs. the Hoosiers, a 50-plus-yard for a score vs. the Wildcats — but the consistency wasn’t there. Going up against a top-end defense like Michigan, he needed to prove himself.

As it turned out, Barkley didn’t even need a minute or multiple carries to make the Michigan defense doubt everything about themselves.

The Penn State superstar threw a pass on their first play of the game after opening up with the ball. On the second snap of the game, though, Barkley took the ball on a direct snap and went on a wrinkle through the middle. Wolverines defenders were there, but they couldn’t bring down the dynamic back. And once he got into the open field, it was goodnight, Wolverine.

That man good.

No one was ever truly questioning the talent of Saquon Barkley — it would be foolish to do so. However, if a player is going to win the Heisman, he has to step it up against the best competition and also not let down too much. He was in danger of doing that after his previous two games.

In case his first carry wasn’t good enough for you, he took his third one on Penn State’s second drive of the night into the end zone from 15 yards outs.

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Suffice it to say that Michigan’s defense found out quickly that they wanted absolutely none of Barkley.