For Penn State's Quarterbacks, 'Our Normal Operation'
Penn State coach James Franklin left Indiana on Saturday with a 45-14 victory, a makeshift offensive line that made magic and a defense that set a school record.
So of course he's looking forward to more questions about his quarterbacks.
"Can't wait to see what subject matter can get back to the quarterback position [next week]," Franklin told reporters in Bloomington.
Penn State's 45-14 victory over Indiana was notable for significant reasons beyond quarterback. Down three starters, and with true freshman Drew Shelton playing left tackle, the offensive line carved enough space for backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton to combine for 159 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively, the Lions set a school record with 16 tackles for loss (albeit against a weathered Indiana front) and pressed the Hoosiers into seven three-and-out series. The victory marked a positive rebound from last week's "heartbreaker" loss to Ohio State, even considering the struggles Indiana is confronting.
Yet Franklin took four questions following the win about quarterbacks Sean Clifford and Drew Allar, his approach to playing them and what might be next. Franklin certainly invited the questions, having said multiple times (in multiple ways) last week that he was evaluating the position.
On Saturday night, Franklin summarized that evaluation as quick and unanimous: Clifford was the starter and Allar the No. 2, as it has been all season.
"Nothing had changed," Franklin told reporters. "I had discussions with members of the staff, but nothing had changed from our perspective. Everybody still saw it the same way. Literally everybody, to a man, saw it the same way."
That might be difficult for outsiders to understand, particularly those watching the ABC broadcast. Analyst Dan Orlovsky raved about Allar, essentially calling him the missing piece of Penn State's success.
Orlovsky spent nearly a half highlighting Allar's skill and physical traits, particularly after a fourth-quarter touchdown throw that Allar spun to Harrison Wallace III on a rollout.
"They haven't had a dude at quarterback," Orlovsky said. "... For a program that's very good but needs to find a way to jump over very good to becoming great, Drew Allar's going to be the key difference."
He's not the only one impressed. Franklin said last week that Allar has "tremendous arm talent," can "throw from different launch points and angles," is "very accurate" and "does a really good job of preparing."
Meanwhile, co-offensive coordinator running backs coach Ja'Juan Seider said during the week that Allar has the "it" factor.
"The thing that's neat to watch is, when he goes in the game, there's no flinch," Seider said. "It's almost like the game is easier to him than a practice."
So, why Clifford? He went 15-for-23 for 229 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. Allar was 9-for-12 for 75 yards and two scores, though Indiana's defense clearly was laboring by then. Franklin got to that point later in his press conference Saturday.
"Overall, [Clifford] does what he always does," Franklin said. "He does a great job of managing the protections, does a great job on all the checks we're using in the run game or the fine motions that we do to account for guys.
"... But I also understand that you guys don’t get to see it as much. I know everybody’s got strong opinions on what we should do, and it's not your fault, with probably less than 1 percent of the information. We get to watch these guys in practice, every single day in meeting and in games. They’re both doing very good things, and obviously we need to continue to get Drew as many opportunities as we possibly can."
Once Franklin and his staff discussed the quarterback situation after the Ohio State game, "we just kind of went back to our normal operation." That's likely how the remainder of the season will go.
Ultimately, Penn State squelched the quarterback issue Saturday with exceptional crisis management on the offensive line and a pushy defensive front. With three games left, though, it's likely to re-emerge — at least from the outside.
Franklin and his staff have been consistent with their positional management all season, though, so there's no reason to believe they'll change. As Franklin said, it's their normal operation.
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