Full disclosure: After (rightly, and easily) taking Penn State to task in each of the previous five columns for many things, most of them relating to simply bad, bad football, I came into Saturday planning to use this space to highlight some of the positives for the Nittany Lions as it pertained to both this week’s game and, more importantly, to the future. I had planned to start (and likely finish) with some of the team’s younger players.
The kids made that easy to do.
Yes, Penn State got some important plays from its few remaining veterans during its takedown of hated Michigan — some big third-down grabs from Jahan Dotson, a big fourth-down stop by Ellis Brooks (and, asinine rules be damned, an outstanding heads-up play to help deliver what should have been a game-ending sack and fumble recovery from Shaka Toney) and, all credit where it’s due, a steady, mistake-free game from Sean Clifford, who had been neither of those things since 2019.
