Hlas: Iowa Hawkeyes must stop Saquon Barkley from biting them again

IOWA CITY — There were good reasons why multiple Iowa defensive players said 'They've got a lot of good offensive players,' when asked specifically about Penn State running back Saquon Barkley.

Quarterback Trace McSorley and tight end Mike Gesicki would be first-team All-Big Ten if the votes were cast today, But what Barkley does or doesn't do in Kinnick Stadium Saturday night may determine how Iowa fares against the fourth-ranked Nittany Lions.

Barkley would be first-team All-America were the ballots distributed today. If Iowa can't contain him for the most part over four quarters, springing an upset will be unlikely.

'He's a really good player,' Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson said here Tuesday. 'His size, his aggressive running. He's a fast guy. I think he makes great cuts.'

That sounds like everything, Jackson was told.

'Yeah,' he agreed with a laugh.

Last November at Penn State with his team up 7-0 and with the ball at its 43-yard line, Barkley took a handoff and came around the left edge. Iowa safety Brandon Snyder reached for Barkley's waist at the Iowa 45, but only grazed the back's hip. Safety Miles Taylor fell untouched while trying to cope with Barkley's cutback move as Barkley raced past other defenders and dashed downfield.

Cornerback Desmond King caught up with Barkley at the Iowa 8. But Barkley fended him off with his free right arm and powered into the end zone.

So yeah, 230 pounds of running back ran aggressively, fast, and made great cuts.

Early in the fourth quarter, with Penn State at the Iowa 44, Barkley sprinted down the right side of the field as a receiver. He got ahead of Hawkeye linebacker Bo Bower by five yards. McSorley's pass hung a bit. Barkley turned back to the ball to catch it, then instantly spun back in the direction of the end zone.

Three yards before scoring, he high-stepped as Bower chased him futilely. That was before high-stepping was a bigger no-no in the college game.

'Very good, explosive,' Bower said about Barkley Tuesday. 'They've got a lot of good players.'

Yes, and the Big Ten has had a lot of good running backs this decade. Iowa faced Melvin Gordon, Ameer Abdullah and Carlos Hyde, all now NFL starters. In the 'B's alone, there were Montee Ball, Le'Veon Bell and Rex Burkhead. Now there's Barkley, who may be an offense-changer for an NFL team at this time next year.

'He's just a fast guy,' Iowa linebacker Josey Jewell said. 'If he wants to get out of the backfield and run around the edges, we have to be able to take good angles, pursuit angles, and be able to tackle him.'

Some teams have done it. The week after Barkley had 20 carries for 167 yards and that long TD catch against Iowa, he was held to 20 carries for 20 yards at Indiana through three quarters and finished with 33 for 58.

With Michigan State putting extra defenders on the line of scrimmage in its regular-season finale at Penn State, Barkley had a puny 14 yards on 12 carries and left the game with a leg injury. But the following week in the Big Ten title game, he rushed 19 times for 83 yards and a TD, and had an 18-yard scoring catch in the fourth-quarter that put his team ahead to stay.

Then he went nuts with 249 total yards in the Rose Bowl. Barkley's 79-yard touchdown run in the third quarter was an exhibition of greatness. The cuts and jukes he made went straight to the Cuts and Jukes Hall of Fame.

You don't often see players of Barkley's caliber in college games. Iowa isn't to be taken lightly Saturday. But it has a challenge it knows all too well.