Thanks to last Saturday night’s game at Iowa, every man, woman, and child in the United States of America now knows Saquon Barkley. They know, too, that he is both real, and spectacular.

Defensive coordinators have known this for considerably longer because he’s proven nearly impossible to stop since Week 2 of 2015. But one of the few DCs to stop the speeding Saquon visits Beaver Stadium this Saturday, as head ball coach of the Indiana Football Hoosiers. Last November in Bloomington, Barkley carried the pill 33 times, and tallied a paltry 58 yards. That’s 1.76 yards per carry, for the running back from Whitehall, PA (actual place of birth: planet Krypton). Let’s see what the Hoosiers did.

Kill The Lights

The first thing Indiana did was penetrate. Penetration, particularly by large fat men in the middle of the defense, ruins a lot of rushing attacks. To wit, in the gif below, we see DT #93 beat then-freshman guard Steven Gonzalez and swallow an entire Saquon as a snack between series.

Indiana also launched LB #8 Tegray Scales repeatedly into gaps on the snap of the ball. Forget about hook zones or pass coverage responsibilities - Scales frequently had none. His task was to become Jeremiah Trotter circa 2000 Philly Eagles: shoot a gap and cause problems. If it’s a run, hooray - tackle the ball carrier. If it’s a pass, hooray - sack the QB if you can catch him.

Scales wasn’t alone in his frequent apathy for pass coverage responsibilities. Here, in the gif below, Indiana OLB #47 (top of the screen) cares not a whit for what happens with the receivers behind him, and instead hangs out until he’s sure it’s a run, then blasts off like it’s a North Korean missile launch party. (Note also ILB #44 waiting for nothing before attacking a gap).

The point being two-fold: 1) expect a bunch of blitzing, stunting, and dudes appearing in gaps out of nowhere on Saturday, for the purpose of stopping Penn State’s rush offense (and #26 Barkley in particular); and 2) expect us to use play action and throw it behind those LBs who are so intent on stopping the run, as shown in the gif below:

That ball, of course, went to Chris Godwin. Unfortunately for Dear Old State, Chris now catches passes for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And thru the first 3 games of 2017, we Nittany Lion fans have noticed his absence.

2016 Receiving Stats

2017 Receiving Stats - 3 Games

To no one’s surprise, PSU’s “X” receiver’s production declined significantly. In the first 3 games - vs. Akron, AkronB, and Southern Akron - half of Godwin’s workload shifted to Barkley and TE Mike Gesicki.

Last week’s game in Iowa City may have signaled a change in Joe Moorhead’s division of labor. Juwan Johnson - Godwin’s replacement at the “X” - earned BSD MVP honors (nuts), with 7 balls for 92 yards, and the game-winning touchdown. The coaches called Johnson’s number with 0:04 seconds left, and the sophomore delivered.

From a near alignment, Johnson had to release inside of the Iowa LB at the top of the shot below, close the distance rapidly to his mark (Iowa S #19 with red ‘x’) - and cross that safety’s face. He has to cross the safety’s face - i.e., get inside leverage - or he loses.

In the gif below, S #19 flips his hips on the snap to encourage Johnson outside. He wants desperately to maintain inside leverage, and push Johnson to the corner. But - oh man - check out the jockstrap that gets dropped near the goal line. That is, if you can see it thru the cloud of black, rubber pellets that Iowa called field turf.

Hit The Lights

Saquon got most of the attention last weekend - rightfully so, since he’s quite obviously an alien from a distant galaxy. But if Johnson - or Saeed Blacknall, who caught a bullet on 4th and 2 that same drive - can run every route like it’s 4th down, he’s going to win consistently. Not a lot of DBs at this level can match up with that shake. And with Barkley in the backfield, there aren’t a lot of defenders looking at Johnson to begin with. (At least for now - keep shaking like that and defensive coordinators will learn his name, too).

Late Addition

Here’s the play chart with description of the 1st half offensive plays. So close on quite a few plays. Credit Iowa for some well timed blitzes. Phil Parker guessed right a lot.