From ESPN artical - What do you all think?
Saquon Barkley will not pull a Herschel Walker for Penn State
Barkley might be the most gifted player in college football. He's a physical specimen who can run through, around and over the top of defenders at will.
He is Penn State football this season, racking up yards in the running game, passing game and special teams.
Saquon Barkley has accounted for 38 percent of Penn State's yards from scrimmage in 2017
With all due respect to quarterback Trace McSorley, the numbers don't lie. Barkley has accounted for 38 percent of his team's yards from scrimmage this season, which is the highest rate in the Big Ten and the fourth-highest in FBS.
While that might mean a trip to New York for the Heisman Trophy is in order (more on that later), it doesn't bode well for Penn State's chances of contending for a national championship. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the last team to win a national championship with one player accounting for that large a portion of his team's total yards from scrimmage was in 1980 when Herschel Walker carried Georgia to the promised land as a freshman.
Ultimately, the overreliance on Barkley is going to come back to bite the Nittany Lions. And we're going to see it play itself out very quickly when, after failing to face a single defense ranked in the top 45 nationally the first half of the season, Penn State will play three top-15 defenses (Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State) -- and lose to at least one -- in its next three games.
Barkley is a special talent, but that is too much to ask of any one player.
Saquon Barkley will not pull a Herschel Walker for Penn State
Barkley might be the most gifted player in college football. He's a physical specimen who can run through, around and over the top of defenders at will.
He is Penn State football this season, racking up yards in the running game, passing game and special teams.
Saquon Barkley has accounted for 38 percent of Penn State's yards from scrimmage in 2017
With all due respect to quarterback Trace McSorley, the numbers don't lie. Barkley has accounted for 38 percent of his team's yards from scrimmage this season, which is the highest rate in the Big Ten and the fourth-highest in FBS.
While that might mean a trip to New York for the Heisman Trophy is in order (more on that later), it doesn't bode well for Penn State's chances of contending for a national championship. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the last team to win a national championship with one player accounting for that large a portion of his team's total yards from scrimmage was in 1980 when Herschel Walker carried Georgia to the promised land as a freshman.
Ultimately, the overreliance on Barkley is going to come back to bite the Nittany Lions. And we're going to see it play itself out very quickly when, after failing to face a single defense ranked in the top 45 nationally the first half of the season, Penn State will play three top-15 defenses (Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State) -- and lose to at least one -- in its next three games.
Barkley is a special talent, but that is too much to ask of any one player.
