Penn State remains a quarterback away from becoming what it wants as a program
Sean Clifford dropped back to pass Saturday late in the fourth quarter and threw the ball right to incoming Ohio State defender J.T. Tuimoloau, who ran the interception right into the end zone for a touchdown, cementing Penn State’s loss to Ohio State.
James Franklin stood stonefaced as Clifford returned to the sideline, with neither head coach or quarterback looking at the other.
Neither said a word, but that alone said enough.
Franklin has stood by his redshirt senior quarterback all season, and did so again after the 44-31 loss. But in that moment, his mind could have been a million different places.
One of those places is where many probably found their minds following the loss.
Penn State, despite being ever so close to Ohio State, remains a quarterback away from putting away a team of that stature.
Clifford turned the ball over four times in the game with three interceptions and one fumble. Franklin said he didn’t blame his quarterback for the fumble, but the rest, well ...
“The other ones, whether we left the ball inside or whether he has to find the throwing lane around really athletic long defensive ends,” Franklin said. “I thought he played gutsy. He did some really good things, but there’s some things that we have to get cleaned up too.”
The final score may not indicate it, but the Nittany Lions walking out of Beaver Stadium with a victory was a very real possibility in the fourth quarter. In fact, they led 21-16 with under 10 minutes to play in the game.
Then a full game itself seemingly unfolded the rest of the way, with Ohio State outscoring Penn State 28-10.
Senior safety Ji’Ayir Brown said that made the loss sting more than the blowout defeat at the hands of Michigan two weeks ago.
“This loss hurts a lot more,” Brown said. “... For us to fall short in one quarter after we worked all summer, all winter on finishing, finishing, finishing, and for us to fall short in one quarter it definitely hurts a lot more than the last loss.”
It’s hard to blame Brown or the rest of the defense for the loss. Time and time again it was put in sudden-change situations with the offense giving the ball away, and time after time the defense either held the Buckeyes scoreless or limited them to a field goal. Even during the fourth quarter, it was the offense that allowed the game to snowball.
Still, Brown said the defense doesn’t look at anything other than what is in front of it when those changes occur.
“We try not to think about it,” Brown said. “Sudden change we like to huddle up, look each other in the eyes before we go out there, try not to think about the moment, what just happened. All we know is that we’re going out there and we’re about to play defense against Ohio State.”
Despite the defense’s best efforts, it eventually cracked at the hands of the second-best offense in the country. The unit’s mistakes were mostly a result of a great offense getting plenty of chances to make something happen.
The same can’t be said on the other side of the ball. The Penn State offense had plenty of chances of its own but couldn’t finish enough of them to earn a win.
Make no mistake about it, the turnovers were what changed everything Saturday in Beaver Stadium. Franklin made that clear, time and time again following the loss.
“You can’t turn the ball over that many times against that type of opponent and think you’re going to be successful. That is something we, for the most part, we have done a good job of this year, but we did not today,” Franklin said.
And then later.
“Again, I don’t mean to keep saying the same thing over and over again, but besides the turnovers, I thought we did some pretty good things on both sides of the ball.”
Franklin and the Nittany Lions who spoke after the game discussed the turnovers, but there weren’t many people pointing direct blame at one player.
But the facts are what they are. Penn State had four turnovers. Clifford had three interceptions and a fumble.
Once again the Nittany Lions were right there. They could taste it. A win over Ohio State was within reach and the whole season was about to be at the team’s fingertips. Big Ten title aspirations and College Football Playoff possibilities were right there. They just had to close things out.
Instead, the defense cracked a little bit to give up the lead and things snowballed from there as the offense failed to rise to the moment.
It was clear as day following the loss that at least one Nittany Lion knew what was there.
“I think that this loss stings a little more just because it just felt like it was right in our hands,” tight end Theo Johnson said, taking time to pause, seemingly choking back tears. “Yeah, it just feels like we were right there. It just hurts. ... There’s things that stand out to me personally for what I can do better. And things as a team, I think just the turnovers probably are the thing that I’m gonna think about and kind of keep me up at night, for sure.”
Johnson is not the only one who could be up at night with thoughts of what went wrong. Penn State was unable to conquer its Goliath Saturday afternoon. It fell short once again, making it six straight losses to the Buckeyes.
Pick nits where you please, but the Nittany Lions remained a quarterback away from being who they want to be.
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 5:53 PM.
