There was a great deal of uncertainty surrounding junior running back Joe Sandberg prior to Saturday night's game at Villanova.
Before that contest, Sandberg's college career consisted of nine rushes for 46 yards -- all in a backup capacity against Duquesne the previous week except for one carry that came his freshman year.
In two years, he had barely played a collegiate down. After being used sparsely as a freshman at Penn, Sandberg transferred to Rutgers, where he was forced to sit out a year per NCAA transfer regulations.
Before he even played a down at Rutgers, Sandberg transferred back to Penn for the 2005 season.
The report on Sandberg was that he was a legitimate player, and could maybe even challenge Sam Mathews for the starting job.
Mathews ended up winning the job, and started against the Dukes.
But he got hurt and was unable to go against the Wildcats. Fellow running back Von Bryant left the team for personal reasons, slicing the running backs corps in half.
As the No. 2 man on the Quakers' depth chart, and without a whole lot of potential backup, Sandberg stepped in.
He also stepped up.
The native of Oradell, N.J., rushed for 104 yards on 18 carries, and caught seven passes for 99 more yards -- an impressive 5.8 yards per carry and 14.1 yards per catch -- despite also slightly injuring his own shoulder.
One of those runs was a neat 34-yard scamper on Penn's first possession of the second half, sneaking through the middle of the Villanova defense and exploding for a touchdown to give the Quakers a 24-7 lead.
But after that play, he only had five carries for 12 yards and caught two passes for 19 yards.
And as Sandberg's touches declind, Penn's lead declined as well.
In the end, Sandberg's effort was not enough to carry the Quakers as Villanova won 28-24.
"All the yards and everything, that doesn't mean anything because we came out with the loss," Sandberg said of his otherwise impressive starting debut.
Obviously, Sandberg has proven himself to be a viable option if Mathews' bruised shoulder prevents him from playing at Dartmouth this weekend or if he cannot go at any other time this year.
He has certainly also made his pitch for more carries even if Mathews is healthy.
But Bagnoli has said that he will not switch to a two-back offense, so one of the pair will have to get the brunt of the carries.
And if Mathews is not 100 percent, it is possible that Sandberg will be that guy.
Quarterback Pat McDermott certainly was comfortable with throwing to Sandberg, saying that although the screen passes and dump-offs were not a part of the game plan per se, they worked well because of Sandberg's skills.
"We know he has good hands," McDermott said.
Sandberg's starting debut was very similar to Mathews' in 2003.
With numbers skewed slightly because of a blowout win -- 51-10 over Duquesne -- Mathews rushed for 89 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown and caught four passes for 29 yards and a touchdown.
For the season, Mathews averaged 126.6 yards per game on the ground and 31.1 yards per game through the air, scoring 13 combined touchdowns.
Mathews' numbers leveled off last season, partially because Penn did not get out to big leads and could not run the ball 30 times a game to milk the clock, but also because of an inexperienced offensive line and the Ivy League getting used to him.
In 2004, the Pittsburgh native had 100 fewer carries than the year before with 50 fewer yards per game and six fewer touchdowns.
Against Duquesne in this season's opener, Mathews ran 13 times for 64 yards -- a good average without too many carries.
While a platoon of sorts or even a change in the depth charts probably will not happen in the near future, Sandberg was able to show off some of the things he can do last Saturday -- and with him and a healthy Mathews, Penn's running game should be in good shape the rest of the season.
It took a while, but Joe Sandberg's collegiate career has finally started.
