Iowa City still abuzz over what Saquon Barkley accomplished Saturday night
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Saquon Barkley has gone from being the Penn State player who accused the Iowa football team of quitting in 2016 to now being held in the highest regard by Hawkeye fans.
And deservedly so.
Two days removed from probably the greatest individual performance I’ve ever witnessed in person, Iowa City still is abuzz.
I was standing in a checkout line at Hy-Vee on Sunday when two customers at the adjacent checkout line started talking about Barkley’s exploits, which included a school record 358 all-purpose yards during Penn State’s 21-19 victory this past Saturday night at Kinnick Stadium.
“That Penn State player was something else,” said an elderly women wearing a Hawkeye T-shirt. “There were so many times when I thought we had him stopped and he got away.
“Did you see time when he jumped over our guy and then another one of our guys hit him in the air and he still just kept going?”
The women was referring to the play in which Barkley leaped over Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson and then withstood a hit from Iowa safety Amani Hooker while still in mid-air.
I was among a number of media members who gasped in the press box when it happened.
We couldn’t believe what we had just witnessed because so many of the things that Barkley did on Saturday are unique to him and impossible for most other running backs to duplicate, even at the Big Ten level.
I saw glimpses of former Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter and former Pittsburgh star LeSean McCoy with Barkley’s performance.
But in both cases, I’d take the 5-foot-11, 230-pound Barkley because he is the more complete back.
Imagine Penn State without him this past Saturday?
Barkley touched the ball 43 times, including 28 rushing attempts for 211 yards. He also caught 12 passes for 94 yards and returned three kicks for 53 yards.
He was as durable as he was dominant.
There were so many times in Saturday’s game when the Iowa defenders were in the right spot to make a play, only to be left grabbing for air by Barkley’s greatness.
It’s hard to think of another college football player who combines power, speed, elusiveness and versatility as well as Barkley does.
Former Iowa offensive coordinator Don Patterson has been around the college game for nearly a half century and has coached and seen too many running backs to count.
So when Patterson says that Barkley is maybe the best college running he has seen since Barry Sanders in the late 1980s; that speaks volumes and covers lots of territory.
“He just does so many things for their offense and does them all so well,” Patterson said of Barkley on the KCJJ/Allhawkeyes radio podcast on Monday morning.
Barkley also shredded Iowa’s defense for 211 yards during a 41-14 victory last season in State College, Pa., but that performance paled in comparison to Saturday’s masterpiece under the stars.
Last year’s game was so one-sided that Barkley said it felt like the Iowa players didn’t want to be there in the second half.
There was no talk like that on Saturday because the game was close and exciting throughout. Respect was earned on both sides.
There are times when you just have to salute your opponent for a job well done and appreciate that you witnessed something and somebody who truly is special.
I'm not ready to hand Barkley the Heisman Trophy just yet, but it'll take a herculean effort by somebody else to beat him, assuming Barkley stays healthy.
The impact from coaching only goes so far at any level. Much of what Penn State benefited from on Saturday was due to Barkley’s immense talent and not from any advantage in scheme or preparation.
He was just better than the players trying to tackle him, especially in space. And that isn't meant as disrespect to the Iowa players.
“You can see they're a tough team to defend, and it starts with that running back,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said of Barkley. “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.”
I heard the same thing while buying groceries.