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Means as important as end for Sanders in Penn State’s thrashing of Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Miles Sanders put on a show with 200 yards rushing for Penn State on Friday night at Illinois, but how he got those yards was just as important as the gaudy total.

“I’ve been waiting for this for two years,” Sanders, now the star tailback with Saquon Barkley gone, said of his huge night in Penn State’s 63-24 win.

As great as Barkley was at Penn State, he got tackled at or behind the line of scrimmage a ton, especially last year. It would happen time and again, then all of a sudden, Barkley would break off a long highlight-reel run.

Whether Barkley was getting stopped so quickly so often generally was blamed on a poor offensive line or defenses being so focused on stopping him. But there was more to it than that, and some of it was Barkley himself trying to do too much.

Sanders has shown this season, and certainly Friday, that he likes to seek out contact, take a hit and keep going forward. In a lot of ways, that’s better for Penn State’s offense than the way Barkley approached things.

“He’s very mature,” coach James Franklin said after the Illinois game. “One of the things he’s doing a good job right now is you don’t see us with as many tackles for loss, and that’s a couple things. I think Ricky (Rahne is) doing a good job in how he’s calling it and he’s identifying with the look stuff that we do. But I also think Miles, the first couple weeks was bouncing some things that he shouldn’t have. So I think he’s doing a better job.

“Sometimes there’s nothing prettier than an ugly three-yard run. I think a lot of times at running back you want to bounce everything and you want to try to go 80 every single time, and now we end up second-and-12. So getting a running back to understand lowering your shoulder and fighting in a crack and getting two or three yards and keeping us on schedule is important, and I think he’s doing a really good job of that.”

Franklin then mentioned Barkley, and without being critical of the running back, he made sure to point out his style led to him getting tackled for loss on occasion because he was looking for a big gainer.

“Sometimes it hurt us, and other times he made spectacular runs, as you can imagine,” Franklin said.

Sanders carried 22 times for 200 yards and three touchdowns, including a go-ahead 48-yarder for a 28-24 lead in the third quarter. That was the first of 42 unanswered points by the Lions to finish the game.

“I think Miles is getting more comfortable and more confident,” Franklin said. “And I thought Ricky (Slade) came in and did some nice things, as well,” including a 61-yard TD run.

Penn State’s offensive line has been superb so far this season, opening running lanes for Sanders and giving quarterback Trace McSorley a good pocket on most pass plays.

“We’re more physical on the O-line and tight end, and we’re more consistently getting positive yardage and staying out of long-yardage situations,” Franklin said.

McSorley is completing just 53.8 percent of his throws, and Franklin pointed out, “We’ve got to be more consistent in the passing game.

“There’s too many throws that we’re missing, there’s too many balls that we’re not coming down with, because we’re going to have to be more balanced moving forward in the run and the pass game,” the coach added.

Penn State hasn’t put together a strong game for all four quarters yet this season, yet it is still 4-0 and averaging more than 50 points a game.

Franklin made an interesting comment about just how difficult it is to play four strong quarters.

“I don’t know if we’ve played many complete games since we’ve been here,” he said. “I think we are getting better. There’s certain plays, certain series, certain quarters that you’re not happy with.

“Do we get better individually and collectively every week. For the most part, you could say we have.”

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