Sean Clifford on Penn State: 'It's a Championship Team'
Occasionally, Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford will reference the past. Particularly the 2020 and 2021 seasons. They still rest uneasily within him.
Clifford did so again Saturday after the Lions defeated Ohio 46-10 in their 2022 home opener at Beaver Stadium. For Clifford's offense, the game went about as well as he could have conceived.
The Lions rolled up 576 total yards and 27 first downs. Clifford completed 19 of 27 attempts, threw his fifth touchdown pass in two games, and had a towel draped around his neck on the sideline less than 4 minutes into the third quarter. Running back Nicholas Singleton set a Penn State record for rushing yards (179) in a Beaver Stadium debut.
No wonder Clifford carried such a good mood afterward. A confident one, too.
"It’s a championship team," Clifford said. "We have a championship team here. We've just got to keep going 1-0 each week."
After the warmly received home debut of 12 true freshmen, including Singleton and quarterback Drew Allar, Penn State makes its first trip Saturday to Auburn, a rare visit to SEC country that will test Clifford's theory.
Penn State rallied behind Clifford to win at Purdue in Week 1, a game that demonstrated how much better the team's quarterback situation is this season. When Clifford left the game in the second quarter (because of cramping, coach James Franklin said), freshman Drew Allar played one very calm series that also calmed his sideline.
Last year, Penn State did not have a capably prepared backup ready for its trip to Iowa, where Clifford sustained a first-half injury. Eight false starts later, the Lions blew a 14-point lead in their first loss of the season. After that, Franklin played a less-than-healthy Clifford because, to paraphrase, he was the best Penn State had.
No longer. Against Ohio, Allar completed 6 of 8 passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns. He threw probably the game's best pass: a 32-yard post-route touchdown to Omari Evans that expertly led the receiver to the end zone.
Allar instinctively reacted to a blitz, escaped pressure to find tight end Khalil Dinkins for another score and ran better than expected. Most of all, Franklin said, Allar has demonstrated that he's ready to play.
"I think the biggest thing that jumps out to everybody is that he's just super-poised in there for a young kid," Franklin said. "The game seems slow to him already."
That's what jumps out to Clifford as well. As the sixth-year quarterback said afterward, he's determined to win this season. If they don't weigh on him, the past two seasons certainly nudge Clifford. Which is why he was so thrilled to see Allar and Christian Veilleux play against the Bobcats.
If he gets hurt this season, Clifford feels more confident in how his quarterback room will react.
"If it means giving up some time to get guys prepared, I want to win more than anything," Clifford said. "I have no ego in that. So the only thing that matters to me is winning football games, and I know how important it is to give those guys reps. If anything happens to me, I want to win games. That’s all that matters, and I think it was awesome today to get Drew in there for series after series and CV a couple series as well. It was a lot of fun to watch.
"We all want to succeed but we want the team to win. That’s the best thing about our group. It’s all love. 2020 wasn’t Penn State football. In 2021 we started hot, but 7-6 isn’t Penn State. That's not our standard. We want to win every game this year. That’s what matters. That’s why I love this room so much. Because of the passion for winning. It’s all about the team this year."
In an interview with Penn State's in-house communications staff, Allar called his home debut "surreal," though he didn't appear overwhelmed. He also called the reps "super important" for his long-term development.
Clifford can see the future of Penn State's offense. It prompts his voice to rise just a bit when talking about it.
"The bar has been raised in the quarterback room," Clifford said. "I'm happy to be a leader and a captain in that room. But you're got to push hard."
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