By Tyler Devine

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Much to the dismay of Iowa fans, Saquon Barkley was as good as advertised on Saturday.

Penn State's sensational junior running back shredded Iowa's defense for 358 all-purpose yards during a 21-19  come-from-behind victory at Kinnick Stadium.  

“You guys watched the game,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. “You can see they're a tough team to defend, and it starts with that running back. The quarterback is a really good player. I said that on Tuesday. But the running back is a special player. I don't know if I've seen many better or any better in my 19 years back here.

“He's a tough guy to tackle. Looked like we had him stopped, and next thing you know he's going further down the road. It's one of those deals. They just kept — they've got a really prolific offense. They execute it very well, but our guys kept battling and gave us a chance to win the football game.”

Barkley’s ability to extend drives with his speed, power and elusiveness frustrated the Iowa defenders throughout Saturday's game. One of Barkley's most impressive runs came in the second half when he leaped over Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson and then bounced off a hit by safety Amani hooker.

"He's a good back, the best back in the country," Hooker said. 'It's my first start and my first time going against a real good back."

Barkley ran with power and with finesse during Saturday's game.

.“He can be unpredictable at times,” said Iowa defensive end Parker Hesse. “Sometimes, where the play is supposed to go, or supposed to hit he’ll just bounce it and take it somewhere else. That forces every single person on defense to hold their gap integrity and play their role throughout the entirety of the snap which can put a lot of pressure on you.”

Barkley finished with the second most all-purpose yards against an Iowa defense. Former Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey holds the record with 368 all-purpose yards, which he set in the 2016 Rose Bowl.

Injury report: Iowa was without senior running back James Butler for the first time on Saturday. Butler suffered an elbow injury against North Texas and is expected to be out until after Iowa’s bye week on Oct. 14..

Senior right tackle Ike Boettger missed his second consecutive game after having surgery to repair an achilles injury that he suffered against Iowa State.

Moving up: Senior linebacker Josey Jewell had a game-high 16 tackles, matching his career high. Jewell also had a career-best three tackles for loss, along with two pass breakups and one interception. The interception was the fifth of his career.

Jewell now has 345 career tackles, which ranks 12th in program history. He passed George Davis, Bobby Diaco, Melvin Foster and Aaron Kampman during Saturday’s game.

Senior running back Akrum Wadley had 80 yards on 19 carries in Saturday's game. The New Jersey native now has 2,101 career rushing yards. He passed Jordan Canzeri for 13th all-time at Iowa. Wadley also was Iowa’s rushing and leading receiver on Saturday. He scored two touchdowns to move into 18th place in career scoring.

Helpful Hooker: Amani Hooker recorded a career-high 13 tackles in his first career start.

“I think I did decent,” Hooker said. “Obviously, with a couple tackles I could be way better. I’ve got to look at the film and get better.”

Recruiting frenzy: Iowa may not have sold out on Saturday but it was no fault of the recruits on campus.

Over 50 high school recruits attended the game, highlighted by four-star 2019 running back Jirehl Brock, a native of Quincy, Ill. and three-star 2019 offensive lineman Justin Britt, a native of Indianapolis, Ind.

Britt is high school teammates with 2018 Iowa commits Julius Brents and D.J. Johnson at Warren Central in Indianapolis.

Streaks end: Before Saturday, Iowa had won five straight Big Ten openers. Its last conference opening loss was in 2011 at Penn State.

“Night games in Kinnick are always very, very special and the crowd was just unbelievable tonight,” Ferentz said. “We’re very appreciative of that, and we’ve always had great fan support, and tonight was no exception to that.”

Iowa also had won four straight night games in Kinnick Stadium prior to Saturday. Iowa has hosted 15 night games in Kinnick Stadium’s history, holding a 10-5 record in those games.

Sack-tastic: Sophomore defensive end Anthony Nelson tied his career-high with two and a half sacks.

A streak continues: Senior receiver Matt VandeBerg had two receptions for 27 yards. He has at least one reception in 23 consecutive games played and is 13th on Iowa’s all-time list with 116 career receptions.

Long balls: Sophomore quarterback Nate Stanley’s 70-yard touchdown pass to Wadley was the longest passing and receiving plays of their respective careers.

The previous long came the week before on a 68-yard completion against North Texas.

Freshman receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette’s lone 29-yard reception was also a career high.

Good as advertised: Iowa freshmen defensive end A.J. Epenesa continues to live up the enormous hype that accompanied him from high school.

The former five-star recruit from Edwardsville, Ill., had one sack, one tackle for loss, three quarterback hurries and forced fumble during Saturday’s game.

“A.J. is really growing with each week,” Ferentz said. “We play better when we can rotate guys through.”

The 6-5, 270-pound Epenesa is part of a defensive end rotation, along with starters Anthony Nelson and Parker Hesse and reserve Sam Brincks.

Nelson had two sacks in Saturday’s game, while Hesse finished with two tackles for loss.

Brinks, the only walk-on in the group, had one tackle for loss.

"Sam is a great guy," Ferentz said of the Carroll native. "It's his fourth year in the program. He's growing with each and every sna, and that was a huge play tonight, the one he made. It was really good to see that."