Saquon Barkley: Iowa didn't want to be there in the second half
Saquon Barkley gave Iowa everything it could handle on Saturday night.
For the third time in four games, the Penn State back racked up 200-plus yards from scrimmage in a convincing Lions victory. From start to finish, Barkley dominated the Iowa defense.
He could sense that the Hawkeyes had enough after C.J. Beathard threw an interception at the start of the fourth quarter.
“You can see it when they don’t want to be there no more,” Barkley said.
It’s hard to argue with that.
Iowa allowed a whopping 599 yards of offense and Penn State had its most productive offensive output in 21 years. If there was any fight from Iowa in the fourth quarter, it certainly didn’t show up in the box score.
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Barkley didn’t see much life in Iowa down the stretch.
“You can kind of see it in the defensive demeanor,” Barkley said, “just the way they approach the field when you are gashing them and gashing them. That is the mentality we have and the mentality that (offensive coordinator Joe) Morehead instills in our offense, that killer mentality, finish them.”
Penn State certainly did that. The Lions are winners of five straight and on the verge of a top-10 ranking in the College Football Playoff poll.