Sept. 25, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Junior running back Saquon Barkley (Coplay, Pa.) won his second Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week award of the season after a record-breaking performance in Iowa City. This is Barkley's fourth career conference offensive honor.
Barkley also claimed his second Big Ten Rose Bowl Player of the Week honors and was named to the Paul Hornung Award weekly honor roll for the second time this season. The Paul Hornung Award is presented to the most versatile player in major college football.
Barkley had a career-high 211 rushing yards on 28 carries and a touchdown to go along with 12 catches for 94 yards and three kickoff returns for 53 yards en route to a school-record 358 all-purpose yards in a thrilling win over Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. He broke the mark previously held by Curt Warner (341; at Syracuse in 1981). Barkley's 358 all-purpose yards are 10th all-time in Big Ten history. His 211 rushing yards rank tied for 15th in Penn State history with Lydell Mitchell (at Iowa; 1971), Curtis Enis (vs. Ohio State; 1997) and Eric McCoo (vs. Ohio State; 1999).
In addition to a career rushing performance, Barkley's 12 catches were also a career high, doubling his previous personal best of six at Northwestern in 2015. Barkley is the first Penn State player to have 10 or more receptions since DaeSean Hamilton had 14 catches against Ohio State in 2014.
With his effort against the Hawkeyes, Barkley became the seventh player in Penn State history to have 3,000 career rushing yards. With 3,090 career rushing yards, Barkley sits in seventh place on Penn State's career rushing yards list. With 4,222 career all-purpose yards (3,090 rush, 898 receiving, 234 return), Barkley moved up five spots on the Penn State career charts to the sixth position and is the ninth player in program history with 4,000 career all-purpose yards. With one touchdown at Iowa, Barkley moved into a tie for fifth place on Penn State's career rushing touchdowns list (29 touchdowns).
The fourth-ranked Nittany Lions host Indiana Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network in the "Generations of Greatness" game. The game can also be heard on GoPSUsports.com and the Penn State Sports Network.
Single-game tickets for the 2017 Penn State football season presented by PSECU are available for three home games (Indiana, Rutgers, Nebraska). For information on joining the Nittany Lion Club and purchasing new 2018 season tickets, as well as club seating in Beaver Stadium, fans can visit www.PSUnrivaled.com, call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. or visit the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office weekdays from 9 a.m-4:30 p.m. More than 9,000 new season tickets have been sold and the season ticket allotment for 2017 has been exhausted.