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Forget the football. The most watched object in Beaver Stadium Saturday will be an ankle. Or three.From the sounds of things, Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld and Indiana running back Jordan Howard will all try to play through their ankle injuries as the Nittany Lions host the Hoosiers on Homecoming weekend.Penn State&#8217;s offense has largely sputtered since Barkley and Akeel Lynch went down with injuries in the first half against San Diego State two weeks ago. And if the Lions are going to keep up with the Big Ten&#8217;s top-rated offense, they&#8217;re probably going to need Barkley to do it.Assuming, that is, that Sudfeld and Howard are playing as well.The latest from Penn State&#8217;s side is that Barkley returned to practice this week, albeit with his right ankle heavily taped. Lions coach James Franklin said he is still being cautious with his true freshman sparkplug.&#8220;He did practice all week long, but he&#8217;s not 100 percent,&#8221; Franklin said Thursday on his weekly radio show. &#8220;He wants to play bad. He told me he could&#8217;ve played the second half (against San Diego State), that he could&#8217;ve played last week.&#8220;Based on what I saw I don&#8217;t think he could have. But you&#8217;d rather see them have that mentality.&#8221;Franklin said he&#8217;s weighing playing a &#8212; hypothetically speaking &#8212; 85-percent Barkley and risk him being at 80 percent the following week against Ohio State or sitting him out so he could have a chance at being 100 percent the rest of the season.Relying so heavily on an 18-year-old to boost the offense isn&#8217;t ideal. But with Lynch likely out for a longer stretch, the Lions&#8217; options are slim.&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what else to do,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;You say you may be getting too dependent on a freshman runner &#8212; that&#8217;s all we got is freshmen runners. So I&#8217;m not sure what the other option is.&#8221;As for Indiana&#8217;s issues, Sudfeld and Howard have been practicing and coach Kevin Wilson said that both will make the trip to State College.Both players missed the second half of last week&#8217;s game against Ohio State.Though traveling with the team doesn&#8217;t guarantee that they will play, Wilson said that Sudfeld was cleared to return against the Buckeyes, but the team didn&#8217;t want to risk anything.&#8220;Everything&#8217;s a game-time decision,&#8221; Wilson said on his own radio show.Howard, who enters the weekend sixth in the nation in rushing yards at 709, would be Wilson&#8217;s bigger concern, trying to make cuts on a sore ankle.&#8220;Jordan&#8217;s a little (hobbled), so we&#8217;re not overdoing it with him,&#8221; Wilson said. &#8220;They both play positions where you have to move, so we&#8217;ll see.&#8221;THREE AND OUTPlanning problemsIf Howard can&#8217;t play, the Hoosiers have a successful backup ready to go in Devine Redding, who plays a similar style.But while Sudfeld is a pocket passer, his backup, Zander Diamont, is a scrambler. In other words, the Lions have had a busy week of practice planning for both.&#8220;From what we&#8217;re hearing, we hear (Sudfeld&#8217;s) going to play,&#8221; Franklin said. &#8220;The thing that makes it a little bit challenging is the backup could not be any more different than the starter, who&#8217;s 6-5, 240 and can throw it all over the place. I would not characterize him as runner.&#8220;(Diamont) scrambled for a 76-yard touchdown against Ohio State. We&#8217;ve had to spend time this week preparing for two completely different styles.&#8221;Tempo tantrumsRegardless of the personnel, Indiana has been best known for its hyperactive pace on offense under Wilson. Look no further than last week&#8217;s near-upset of the No. 1 Buckeyes, where the Hoosiers ran a whopping 91 total plays despite the injuries on offense.That&#8217;s a tough challenge for any defense. But the contrast will be especially stark after spending last week facing Army&#8217;s exclusively run-based triple-option scheme.&#8220;It&#8217;s just a total change of pace,&#8221; linebacker Ben Kline said. &#8220;It changes all your calls, changes everything. &#8230; You move (from Army) to Indiana, who runs a very different type of scheme, and they have great players, great coaches.&#8220;They run what they run really well, and it&#8217;s going to be an awesome challenge, and I think that we are looking forward to it.&#8221;Guest coachThe guy at the front of the squad room looked like James Franklin. Sounded like him, too, as he delivered one of the coach&#8217;s trademark Powerpoint presentations to the team.But Franklin was sitting in the back of the auditorium while an impostor took his place.Turns out it was Penn State alum Keegan-Michael Key, one of the stars of the Comedy Central sketch show &#8220;Key &amp; Peele,&#8221; which recently wrapped up its run.Key, who bears a striking resemblance to Franklin, is serving as the grand marshal for Homecoming.Penn State released a video of the switcharoo and it took some players a few seconds to realize what was happening.Franklin told Key, &#8220;They said when you came in, they thought it was me with different glasses on.&#8221;<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Penn State running back Saquon Barkley (26) returned to practice this week, albeit with his right ankle heavily taped. Nick Scott (left) and Mark Allen (8) would take his place if he can&#8217;t play. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Penn-State-Football_Sopr.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penn State running back Saquon Barkley (26) returned to practice this week, albeit with his right ankle heavily taped. Nick Scott (left) and Mark Allen (8) would take his place if he can&#8217;t play. </caption0><photoCredit0>Joe Hermitt | AP photo, PennLive.com </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Derek Levarsedlevarse@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>PSU GAMEDAYIndiana (4-1, 0-1)at Penn State (4-1, 1-0)Noon, todayBeaver StadiumState CollegeTV: ESPN</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> MBLwchkCPzY</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBLwchkCPzY</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Lions get a new coach for a squad meeting</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Penn State athletics</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table>(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</videoMeta></div>

Injuries in focus as Nittany Lions host Hoosiers