Buckeyes scheming to stop Barkley, 'the best we've seen'

COLUMBUS (AP) — Urban Meyer is as prone to hyperbole as any football coach, but everything he says about Penn State tailback Saquon Barkley just might be true.

The Ohio State coach made a bold statement or two this week about the Heisman Trophy front-runner, who is the first Penn State player ever to gain 3,000 career rushing yards and 1,000 career receiving yards. The big junior likely will become the school's all-time leading rusher by the end of the season. Strong and quick, he makes defenses jittery trying to account for him on every play. Just ask Michigan.

"I'd be careful to say this, but he's as good an all-purpose running back as we've seen," Meyer said. "And that's 30 years [in coaching]. No disrespect [intended] for the great running backs. You have different ways of bottling up great running backs. It's hard, especially this guy, really hard."

Part of the problem, he said, is that Penn State uses Barkley in imaginative ways to create "matchup nightmares" for the defense.

For example, on the Nittany Lions' second play from scrimmage last week, Barkley took a direct snap , faked a handoff to quarterback Trace McSorley, cut left while linebackers followed McSorley and romped untouched through Michigan defenders for a 69-yard touchdown. He ran for another score and also caught a TD pass in the 42-13 Penn State win.

Now it's Ohio State's turn to figure out how to stop Barkley. No. 2 Penn State visits the No. 6 Buckeyes on Saturday amid the hoopla that ESPN's College GameDay always brings to town. There is a revenge story line, too. Last year, No. 2 Ohio State went to Happy Valley and was knocked off its perch by then-unranked Penn State 24-21 .