‘This one was on me:’ Penn State QB Sean Clifford shoulders responsibility for upset loss to Indiana
Much of the talk about Penn State football during this extended offseason surrounded redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford.
Would Clifford take the next step? Would he improve his footwork? Would his deep ball be a little more accurate?
For the majority of the first half in No. 8 Penn State’s 36-35 overtime loss Saturday to Indiana, the answer was no.
Clifford consistently overthrew receivers and never looked collected in the pocket early in the game. The 6-foot-2, 217-pound quarterback’s two first-half interceptions cost the Nittany Lions — one resulted in a Hoosiers’ field goal with about 12 minutes to go in the first half, and the other ended up giving Indiana its first lead four minutes later.
“We definitely shot ourselves in the foot, and it starts with me,” Clifford said after the game. “I don’t want anyone else taking this loss. This one was on me.”
As a result of a collection of miscues, the Nittany Lions found themselves in a 10-point hole at halftime after the Hoosiers rattled off 17 unanswered points.
Eventually, though, Clifford looked more comfortable. Clifford began using his legs to create opportunities in the second half, and he finished the game with a team-high 119 rushing yards on 17 carries. Clifford ended an otherwise uneventful third quarter by both teams with a 35-yard scramble for the end zone that put Penn State within three points.
Still, it became a matter of too little, too late. Clifford couldn’t quite change the narrative of his performance.
“If the play breaks down, he’s going to run and get yards,” junior tight end Pat Freiermuth said. “I think he did a good job, as always, of scrambling and finding those extra yards when we needed them. … He’s put in so much work and so much effort in the offseason. I know he’s gonna be his toughest critic.”
Clifford — who finished with 238 yards and three touchdowns through the air — looked more confident passing as the game progressed, too. With a little more than two minutes left in the game, he stepped up in the pocket before launching a 60-yard bomb to junior receiver Jahan Dotson for a touchdown that gave the Nittany Lions their first lead since the 7:59 mark of the opening quarter.
But the Hoosiers continued to respond. They built a confidence early on that wasn’t going to be shaken.
After trading a couple more touchdowns, the game went to overtime. That’s when those previous blunders — and Indiana’s belief in itself as a result — began to add up. Penn State’s first-half issues became too much to overcome.
Head coach James Franklin didn’t sugarcoat the responsibility Clifford had on setting the tone for the team.
“I didn’t feel like we were comfortable on offense or in a rhythm in the first half,” Franklin said. “And obviously, a lot of that is the quarterback. It’s just the nature of playing football and the nature of offensive football.”
The contest became more about Penn State beating itself than anything Indiana did exceptionally well. Penn State finished with 488 yards of total offense, compared to Indiana’s 211. In fact, the Nittany Lions had the ball for more than double the time the Hoosiers did — a time of possession of 40:25, compared to 19:35.
At the end of the game, Clifford couldn’t exactly tell reporters what went wrong with him internally.
“I felt comfortable the whole game,” he said. “It was just a lack of focus on one or two plays, especially the two turnovers. … I felt good. It was just that I made two critical errors that I wish I could have back, but that’s why you play the game.”
Clifford spent hours studying football in the offseason — he watched all of Minnesota’s 2019 games to better understand first-year offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca’s offense, he diagrammed plays on a whiteboard and he constantly worked out with his younger brother.
So while he couldn’t quite explain why he had the type of performance he did, he knows what comes next.
For him, it’s back to the drawing board.
“I’m not gonna sit here and talk about what I could’ve done better until I really watch the tape, and tomorrow I’ll obviously know,” Clifford said. “Really, actually, tonight, I’ll know what I need to do to improve.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2020 at 11:38 PM.
