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Grizzled old Penn Stater Matt Millen spent the better part of three hours introducing the BTN television audience to Saquon "Say Say" Barkley, the Lions' true freshman back from Whitehall, PA. Vision, balance, lower body power, explosion, and comparisons to Curt Warner and Barry Sanders were among the many platitudes Millen heaped upon Barkley during the broadcast. And he earned every one of them.
Last week vs Buffalo, Barkley provided a second half spark, with a pair of brilliant runs. This week vs Rutgers, he supplied the tinder, the air, the spark, the fuel, the fireplace, the couch, the blanket, the chestnuts - all of it. He transformed into "Tim the Enchanter", from Monty Python's The Holy Grail, and with a simple snap of his fingers, could launch a TOW missile at a tree, just because. Say Say dropped two bills and a pair of scores on Rutgers, in his third collegiate game, and earns the BSD MVP for the second consecutive week.
Here you go. Watch Barkley shake a pair of defenders in a phone booth, and see them collide with each other. It's...it's so beautiful.
Honorable Mentions
Jordan Lucas - "Luke" downed a punt on the 1-yard line, bottled up Janarion Grant, strip sacked the QB, and made 9 total tackles. The switch to jersey number "5" really worked out.
Chris Gulla - The New Jersey native punted five times for a 41-yard average, and, with help from the rest of the punt team, limited the aforementioned Grant to one return for -1 yards. That's pretty good.
New Jersey Croots - Angelo Mangiro, Brendan Mahon, Saeed Blacknall, Mike Gesicki, Austin Johnson, Garrett Sickels, Jason Cabinda, Brandon Bell, plus a handful of others. They each made a contribution Saturday night. Special shout out to Mangiro and Mahon (and the rest of the O-line), for 300+ yards rushing, 0 sacks, and not a single tackle registered by Kemoko Turay. Not even an assist.