Victory Bell Rings
Fansided

Penn State football: Noah Cain stays put on depth chart

By Justin Grasso

STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 05: Noah Cain #21 of the Penn State Nittany Lions is tackled by Cory Trice #23 of the Purdue Boilermakers during the second half at Beaver Stadium on October 5, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
STATE COLLEGE, PA - OCTOBER 05: Noah Cain #21 of the Penn State Nittany Lions is tackled by Cory Trice #23 of the Purdue Boilermakers during the second half at Beaver Stadium on October 5, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Penn State football running back Noah Cain remains put on the depth chart, despite taking over last week’s game against Purdue.

At this point, Penn State football has made it pretty clear that they do not view the backfield the same way the fans do. In a perfect world for Nittany Lion nation, Noah Cain would probably be the lead running back out of the backfield, likely splitting carries with Journey Brown.

Instead, the Lions are still unwilling to make that a thing, despite the fact that those two proved to be the most productive backs through the first five games. While Journey Brown did receive a promotion a few weeks back, as Penn State made him number one on the depth chart, they still elected to go with the four-man committee, getting everybody a few carries here and there.

Heading into the game against Purdue, Franklin stood firm on the committee. As he teased the idea of potentially going away from it when another rusher proves him otherwise, he still hasn’t found a reason to ditch the method. Not even after seeing Noah Cain take over against Purdue.

Following the 35-7 victory at home, Franklin once again addressed the running back situation. At that moment, Franklin did throw it out there that Cain could see a promotion on the depth chart, but he had to re-watch the film first to decide.

After seeing this week’s depth chart release, it appears that Cain still has more to offer. This week, Penn State’s depth chart against Iowa remains the same. Journey Brown in front, Ricky Slade coming in second, with the freshmen, Noah Cain and Devyn Ford coming in third and fourth.

Next. Grading Nittany Lions’ performance vs. Purdue. dark

While the “or” remains on the top three backs listed, it still doesn’t make much sense leaving Cain down as the third back as he clearly surpassed Slade at this point in the season.

Cain’s 208 yards, five touchdowns, and an average of 5.9 yards-per-carry undoubtedly beats out Slade’s 51 yards, two touchdowns, and 2.1 yards-per-carry on paper. Cain has earned more carries at this point. Now it will be interesting to see how long it takes before he actually receives the deserved depth chart promotion.

Home/Penn State Football