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After watching Saquon Barkley somehow amaze us all yet again on Saturday night, I was curious.
I saw the Penn State tailback’s incredible stat line of 28 rushes for 211 yards and 12 receptions for 94 yards. More impressive, of course, was the fashion in which Barkley got there. When he wasn’t hurdling Iowa defenders, he was juking and running by them in the open field.
But the numbers were what I became transfixed on, so I did some midnight math on Saturday.
This was what I found:
One final thought on Saquon Barkley.
He now leads the B1G in receptions (23), receiving yards (334) and rushing yards (518).
— Connor O'Gara (@cjogara) September 24, 2017
Unbelievable, right?
Well, it sort of was unbelievable. Apparently my midnight math wasn’t 100 percent accurate. A few people pointed out that Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins actually held the B1G rushing lead by two yards.
But those receiving numbers? Yeah, they were right (Ok, they actually added an extra yard to his total).
As a running back, Barkley leads the B1G in receptions and receiving yards. Needless to say, he would be the first B1G tailback to ever accomplish such feats.
If Barkley kept his current pace for all 12 regular season games, he would do plenty of things that have never been done before.
Barkley is currently on pace for (in a 12-game season) 69 catches, 1,005 receiving yards and 1,554 rushing yards. That’s without factoring in any stats accumulated from a possible B1G Championship or a bowl game. Barkley could play as many as 15 games in 2017, which would lead to some even more incredible marks.
But let’s stay focused on the 12-game pace for now.
No player in college football history has ever pulled off the 1,000 rushing yards/1,000 receiving season. Barkley would be the first to do that if he kept up that current pace. Only two running backs (Mewelde Moore and Marlon Lucky) ever hit 1,000 rushing yards and 700 receiving yards in a season.
Even if he dialed the receiving yards back (he probably will), Barkley would still be in position to hit the 1,000/1,000 mark in 13 games. Percy Harvin didn’t do that. Christian McCaffrey didn’t, either.
Speaking of the former Stanford star, McCaffrey set the NCAA record for all-purpose yards (3,864) in 2015. He broke Barry Sanders’ record (3,250), which stood for 27 years.
Through four games, Barkley has 1,013 all-purpose yards. On a 14-game pace (McCaffrey played 14 games), that would put him at 3,546 all-purpose yards. That would fall a few hundred short of McCaffrey, who returned punts unlike Barkley.
But consider this:
Saquon Barkley is that dude. pic.twitter.com/M4DB0YADUY
— 247Sports (@247Sports) September 25, 2017
Even without returning punts, Barkley is already ahead of where McCaffrey was after four games in 2015.
If we wanted to just stick to 12 games, Barkley is on pace for 3,039 all-purpose yards. That would easily best Larry Johnson’s single-season Penn State program record of 2,655 all-purpose yards.
Take away Barkley’s kick return yards and his pace is still on another level. He’s on pace for 2,559 yards from scrimmage in a 12-game regular season. On a 13-game pace, that’s 2,772 yards. No Power 5 back in college football history has ever officially topped that number (bowl stats weren’t always included).
In fact, Melvin Gordon set the B1G single-season record (which ranks second all-time next to UCF’s Kevin Smith) in 2014 with 2,740 yards from scrimmage. Who’s second on that list among B1G backs? Johnson, who ranks No. 6 in college football history with 2,436 yards from scrimmage.
Health permitting, Barkley certainly has a chance to best Gordon and Johnson. Many believe Barkley has the best chance of anyone to stand alone in New York in December.
After what he did Saturday night, how can you not?
Barkley could take down plenty of records when it’s all said and done. Perhaps the only thing standing in his way besides potential injury is Penn State giving him limited snaps in blowouts.
But even if that does happen, we should still see plenty more of college football’s most exciting player in 2017.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.