STATE COLLEGE — Saquon Barkley believes he can score a touchdown every time he takes a handoff.

Don’t mistake the Penn State running back’s confidence for arrogance. He’s put plenty of evidence on tape in just 15 games to earn a growing reputation as one of the country’s most dangerous backs in space.

But with each game this season, Barkley’s discovering that space isn’t always there in Penn State’s new zone-read rushing attack that ranks near the bottom of every major statistical category. Barkley’s sure if he remains persistent, more of those highlight-reel runs will come, however.

“We’ve got to be patient,” Barkley said Wednesday. “Stuff will open up and I’ve got to step up as a player and make more guys miss and break more tackles and we’ve really got to start getting our run game going because if we get the run game going, that can open up the passing game even more.”

Barkley leads the Big Ten with six rushing touchdowns but Penn State ranks last in the conference and 122nd in the nation with just over 101 rushing yards per game. Those sagging rushing numbers can be traced to the big-play back being bottled up before he even gets going.

Usually Barkley’s first step is backward in Joe Moorhead’s zone-read rushing attack. A delayed handoff follows and Barkley or quarterback Trace McSorley have at times been swallowed up quickly as defenders converge on the mesh point.