Senior running back Joe Sandberg continued his solid season Saturday with 101 yards on 21 carries. The 4.8 yards per carry that Sandberg gained in Penn's 16-0 win over Columbia actually lowered his league-leading average from 6.0 to 5.7 yards per carry.
Sandberg also ranks third in rushing yards in the Ivy League, behind Yale's Mike McLeod and Harvard's Clifton Dawson, and he has five touchdowns, also good for third, behind the same duo.
But starting with the Quakers' previous win against Bucknell, Sandberg has also become a receiving threat. After catching one pass for 11 yards (and throwing a 26-yard touchdown) in the Quakers' first three games, Sandberg had five catches for 41 yards against the Bison. And last Saturday, he added three more catches, one of them resulting in a 10-yard touchdown.
All three of Sandberg's receptions against the Lions were on screen plays, which he says was a deliberate wrinkle added to the offense as the season went on.
"We made some adjustments early in the season and we ran a few screens, and the line got out there and did a good job on those," Sandberg said.
Penn coach Al Bagnoli said earlier this year that he will try to get Sandberg the ball as often as possible, and it seems like he has found a way to get him more involved in the offense.
Last season, mostly backing up Sam Mathews, Sandberg gained 399 yards on 76 carries and three touchdowns, a good average of 5.2 yards per attempt.
However, because he battled a shoulder injury and was behind Mathews on the depth chart when the senior was healthy, Sandberg only had more than nine carries in a game twice.
Still, Sandberg was a threat through the air, catching 27 passes for 367 yards, which were both third among all Penn players. His three receiving touchdowns were tied for second on the team, and his six scores overall were tied with Matt Carre for the second most.
After not seeing any collegiate action until last year, after transferring to and from Rutgers, Sandberg finally looks like he's settled in.
