What Now?
Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford sang the alma mater in a lonely, quiet Beaver Stadium on Saturday night, then vowed to return next week with renewed purpose.
"I'm not going to go out like that," Clifford said. "I'm not going to just turn down and pack it up and blame it on COVID, or blame it on this blame it on that. Nah, that's not how I operate, that's not how the people around me operate. This is a winning program with an 0-2 start. We're going to get back on track."
What that means, though, is difficult to project. The Lions are 0-2 for the first time since 2012, a season they played under tremendous duress in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
After losing the first two games of Bill O'Brien's tenure, Penn State won its next five and finished 8-4. That was a success story, ultimately emblazoned on the Beaver Stadium ring of honor.
The 2020 season is a much different circumstance. Penn State began it with a fierce sense that it would contend for the Big Ten title and its first College Football Playoff appearance. The Lions were focused through training camp, disciplined in their COVID-10 protocols and eager to debut an offense they considered explosive.
After two games, Penn State has generated a stunning collection of questions, notably regarding that offense, its pass defense and a surprising lack of situational discipline and awareness.
Penn State is the only 0-2 team in the Big Ten East and knows that its conference-championship hopes likely have ended. But Clifford sounded the alarm of a quarterback who isn't ready to go down with the ship.
"If you're not motivated right now, then I don't really want you on the team," he said. "That's just a fact. If you're not motivated off two losses when you're back is against the wall, if you're somebody who is just going to fold and say, 'Alright, we're going to get them next year,' then I don't want you here.'"
A fiery speech, which precedes Maryland's visit to Beaver Stadium, sounded good. But where does Penn State go from here, particularly after getting handled on both sides of the line of scrimmage by Ohio State?
The Buckeyes brought a surfelt of skill-position talent, led by quarterback Justin Fields, to Beaver Stadium. But they really made the game theirs by browbeating Penn State on both lines.
The Lions totaled 75 offensive yards in the first half (a shocking four in the second quarter) and couldn't keep Clifford out of trouble. Surprisingly, coach James Franklin said the gameplan included a fair amount of quarterback carries, because the coaching staff expected the play to work.
It didn't (Clifford rusheitd 18 times for five yards), and Penn State abandoned the strategy to begin throwing in the second half with more success.
"I think at the line of scrimmage, I don't think we consistently won that matchup tonight," Franklin said. "Our offensive line, our front, tight end, same thing with our defensive line. We weren't able to get them off schedule."
Franklin, in year seven at Penn State, promised that this offensive line would be stronger, nastier and deeper than any he's had. That might prove true against the rest of the Big Ten schedule. But against Ohio State, whose defense produced seven tackles for loss and five sacks, it wasn't the case.
As a result, Franklin said he found it difficult to evaluate Clifford (18 for 30, 281 yards, three toucdowns, one interception) "based on having people in his face all night long."
Penn State showed pluck in the way it rallied, scoring 19 second-half points on three touchdown catches by Jahan Dotson. But the team wasn't going to win a track meet with Ohio State, either, and that's the problem.
The Lions couldn't beat Ohio State up front or on the wings. They labored to keep the game within a two-touchdown distance. After scoring two second-half touchdowns, Penn State allowed Ohio State to counter right back. And even when they forced a punt, the Lions threw an interception on the very next possession.
Clifford promised that he's "more motivated than ever" now, even though the Big Ten title is out of reach. The players already discussed that in the locker room immediately after the game.
"0-2 was not in our thought process going into this year, but the last thing I'm going to do is let this team or this program or this university do is I'm not going to go out like that," Clifford said.
Will it matter? Penn State begins deciding that Sunday.
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