They couldn’t sling it the way they had (save in the season’s first and last games), but neither could they run it the way Franklin preferred.
So what’s happened to Hackenberg?
Haley, a sophomore, played in his first game of the season after dealing with an injury the first two weeks. Tsk – since the suspension is for three games.
“The focus this week is really on what (the players) get from the team leaders, ” Bergen said, and he included his brother, quarterback Harden Rettig and linebacker Steve Longa in that group. We want a 4.0 hang time. The Nittany Lions have 18 players from New Jersey while Rutgers has 17 Pennsylvania products on its roster.
Forget the fact Akeel Lynch started. The Nittany Lions finally broke through early in the second quarter when the offense orchestrated a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a Jet Sweep touchdown run by DeAndre Thompkins, his first collegiate score.
Barkley averaged just over nine yards on 21 carries. After a quick drive to start the game with Akeel Lynch getting the bulk of the work, Barkley entered and changed the dynamic of the offense…again.
Franklin says they’re a one-two punch.
Darius Hamilton limped to a spot in front of a gray cinderblock wall in the bowels of Beaver Stadium and started by stating the obvious: “I’m hurting”. The Nittany Lions produced only 328 total yards and Christian Hackenberg was a pedestrian 14-of-27 for 128 yards.
“We all knew Saquon was special back in camp”, receiver DaeSean Hamilton said. I had it in the back of my mind that we were going to pass. We’ve been doing it in practice. “But more importantly, he’s earned the respect of everybody in our program”. “To prove to everybody watching the game that he could play at this level and most important in my opinion, as an offensive lineman he wanted to be able to prove to his teammates that he’s a guy that they can count on”.
On Saturday, the potential No. 1 National Football League draft pick in 2016 attempted five passes and completed one for all of five yards in the entire second half against Rutgers.
“That’s my brother”, Lucas said. It meant a lot to me.
Both backs seemed to feed off each other’s success in the game and should create a great situation going forward the rest of the season.
But Hackenberg has stood tall in the pocket, taken his lumps on and off the field, and been a leader.
Through two games this season, Nassib has been one of the most dominant players in the entire country, tallying 15 tackles, four sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception.
Franklin had a full assortment of recruits lining up in the gallery above the media room and looking down to watch his post game news conference.
“His response was, ‘It’s only one game”.
That left current weak side starter Jason Cabinda, who had played sparingly as a true freshman last season, to move to the middle, where he’s helped firm up a defense that looked shell-shocked following Wartman-White’s injury in the second quarter against Temple.
It’s refreshing to see that when Penn State needed to make a statement, they delivered.
Dominate the state was Franklin’s mantra from Day 1 and he certainly threw that one out there to the parents and kids lookin on.
It was interesting, too, what Franklin said about his QB afterward: “I think he’s managing the game really well”.
Saquon Barkley ran for 195 yards and two touchdowns and Penn State beat Rutgers 28-3 in the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams on Saturday night.
Coming off a heartbreaking defeat to Washington State, Rutgers coach Kyle Flood spent more time this week fielding questions about his team’s latest off-field incident than he did about the loss, upcoming opponent or record-setting performance by Janarion Grant.