STrib: Stopping Saquon Barkley is tall order for Steven Richardson, Gophers defense

[BleedGopher]

per Joe:

Saquon Barkley is the type of tailback who keeps opposing coaches staring at the ceiling overnight. The Penn State sophomore blends extraordinary quickness, strength and shiftiness, and is equally dangerous rushing and receiving.

“I think he’s the best back in the Big Ten,” Gophers defense coordinator Jay Sawvel said. “I guess our backs might get mad at me in that sense, so let’s just take ours out of it.”

The Gophers like tailbacks Rodney Smith, Shannon Brooks and Kobe McCrary so much that linebacker Jonathan Celestin tempered his thoughts on Barkley, heading into Saturday’s game at Penn State.

“I don’t see [Barkley] as one of the toughest backs,” Celestin said. “I see him as a mixture of what we go against every day in practice. I see a little bit of Rodney’s shiftiness, Shannon’s strongness, a little bit of Kobe’s size. So I feel like we should be able to defend him well.”

http://www.startribune.com/stopping...-steven-richardson-gophers-defense/395203591/

Go Gophers!!

 

[GopherinPhilly]

I don't see us stopping Penn St this week...they will score points this week. We need to win the turnover battle and score 35 to win IMO.

 

[Gopher07]

On one hand, Barkley is a beast. That much is known. He will be a factor in this game, either rushing or receiving.

On the other, Penn State couldn't really run the ball on Temple (37 carries for 116 yards) or Pitt (31 for 74) - or Michigan, but they're on another level - so kinda tough to say whether or not their o-line is truly up to the task in the ground game. It's not like Temple has been a bastion of run defense this year either, giving up 42 for 231 to Charlotte, and 67 for 329 against Army. Pitt has been better, still gave up 32/100 to Okie State but did really well against UNC.

Is it Saturday yet?

 

[Spoofin]

Way more worried about screen passes to Barkley than handoffs to him.


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