If you made it through any of Penn State’s 13 games this season without the words “Drew Allar” escaping your lips or even running through your brain, you are likely part of a small minority of Nittany Lion fans who, despite what they might have thought about Sean Clifford, were and remain excited to see what the young stud QB can do when given full-time control of the offense.

With Clifford out of the picture and Allar the presumed favorite to answer that question, a couple of related queries spring to mind as the dust settles following the close of the first portal window:

Who the hell is he going to throw to? And who is going to coach them?

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Micah Shrewsberry, in the parlance of our times, has got that dawg in him.

The, um, underdawg, that is.

“I’m one of the ultimate underdog kind of guys,” the Nittany Lions’ basketball coach told The Athletic’s Brian Hamilton last spring. “Toughness will make up for it. We may not be as big as other people. Just be tougher than them.”

This quote, occurring more in the postseason of Shrewsberry’s first year at Penn State than the preseason of his second, was more than prophetic about the current rendition of the Nittany Lions. The roster, as he noted, does not have a lot of size, and Shrewsberry has arguably made it even smaller by eschewing the center position altogether for large stretches of the game. Six-foot-4 senior wing Myles Dread, not unaccustomed to guarding fours at various points of his career, is often seen playing man defense on fives, including Purdue’s behemoth center Zach Edey.

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James Franklin likes to talk about the four core values of his program, mantras that don’t seem to go too far below surface level but are easy to remember, widely applicable and, most importantly, well-suited to the cutthroat world of college football: Positive Attitude, Work Ethic, Compete, and Sacrifice.

After a bounce-back season that he and his program desperately needed, Penn State’s head football coach should consider adding a fifth core value, one that would slot nicely among the other four and just might be more responsible for the Nittany Lions’ current and future successes as any of the others: Adaptability.

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There aren’t a lot of perfect endings in sport. At least, very, very few that don’t take place on a national championship stage.

But Penn State, as the rain poured down in Southern California on Monday night, got as near to a perfect close to the 2022 season as circumstances were going to allow. A team that had frustrated and confused its fans throughout a promising but inconsistent season blew the doors off a good Utah team with a flurry of second-half strikes to win 35-21. The Nittany Lions checked so many of the boxes that had eluded them in losses to Michigan and Ohio State and even a few of their grittier wins—big plays on offense AND defense, run-pass balance, turnover-free football and, really, as clean of a game as we’ve seen from them in several years.

And it was a win that provided equal parts hope for the near future and satisfaction with the present.

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This is the last Sean Clifford column I will write*.

*-this year

Monday’s Rose Bowl game will mark the final time in a Penn State uniform for Clifford, the gregarious and steadfast quarterback from Cincinnati, Ohio. Few players who have worn that uniform have inspired as much consternation from fans, or as many words from those who write about the team, with very few in either group in want of opinions.

As the Nittany Lions prepare to turn the page to just the fourth (full-time) starting quarterback in the soon-to-be 10-year James Franklin Era, it’s worth exploring exactly what has made Clifford such a lightning rod for criticism and exactly how much of it he has earned.

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The three most important letters in college athletics right now are NIL. The name, image and likeness game is a sport-within-all-the-sports that is already changing the very nature of amateur athletics and will continue to do so in ways both foreseen and unforeseen.

Another three-letter combination, at least for athletic administrators, that is nearly as important and will remain so is ROI. When it comes to coaches, particularly those in the high-profile and highly profitable sports of football and men’s basketball, getting a good return on investment can be the difference between a healthy athletics program and a perennial zombie.

Penn State made a substantial investment in James Franklin and, in turn, the football program last year, extending the head coach’s contract to one that runs through 2031. What follows is a closer look at what sort of return Franklin is offering on that investment, both in comparison to his peers and relative to the quality of teams with whom he is competing against those peers.

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Now that Penn State has wrapped up finals week, and the Nittany Lions can turn their (full) attention to the exam awaiting them in Pasadena, it seems a good a time as any to reflect on the lessons learned from two of the youngest Lions, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.

These two dynamic running backs have injected life into what had for the last few seasons been a mostly comatose Penn State rushing attack this fall, leading to a 69% increase in rushing yards per game from 2021, and in doing so provided some teachable moments on subjects including:

Expectations

Singleton was the five-star stud of the Class of 2022, the 27^th overall player in the group and the top running back prospect according to the On3 consensus rankings. From the moment he committed, he had Penn State fans as excited as anyone not named Drew Allar, and when you watched some of his tape, that second name didn’t even matter. Allen, on the other hand, had some impressive bona fides of his own (the 136^th overall prospect and No. 8 RB) but not the sizzle, even as reports of him impressing in preseason camp trickled into the collective consciousness.

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Back in the day, when proponents of various sub-tier bowl games (the Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl was always a personal favorite) emphasized the virtues of playing in such games, one of the common themes they turned to again and again was the extra practices a team would receive leading up to the bowl game, a not-insignificant perk given the NCAA’s usual restrictions on offseason team gatherings.

The thought process went like this: Whether you win the game or not, you get a chance to get some younger players valuable practice reps and get a longer look at them, while your veteran players log some mental reps and get ready for that evening’s steak buffet/arcade tour/beach party. Collectively, players and coaches (including any just-hired coaches) get a theoretical leg up on next season.

In present day, that particular benefit seems of less value each year. Why? Because the team that is prepping for a bowl game in December will scarcely resemble the team that gathers for preseason camp the following August.

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Timing is everything — on the football field, where a blitz pickup by a running back can mean the difference between a long touchdown pass and a concussed quarterback, or in life, where the person you go on to spend 75 years with might not have given you a second glance at the bar if she hadn’t just been dumped by her boyfriend.

Penn State’s timing, while not exactly ideal in the fourth quarter against Ohio State this fall, could wind up being not that bad at all in future seasons — placing them “On The List” instead of arguing with the CFP bouncer outside the velvet ropes. In other words, yes, it would have been nice for the Nittany Lions if the decision to expand the playoff field from four teams to 12 had taken effect this month instead of 2024, as they would have been comfortably in the field.

As it stands, their chances of securing a spot in the top 12 going forward seem as good as most for several reasons, though the line will likely remain quite slim and subject to movement.

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Disclaimer: The following opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of For The Blogy. Hell, they might not even reflect the views of the author but, rather, those of Penn State fans he has been hearing from or reading during these last few weeks.

Penn State has completed a 10-win regular season, and will likely finish among the nation’s top 10 and play in a quality bowl game, such as they exist in any way, shape, or form outside the playoff these days.

By any measure, for a team that was predicted to go 8-4 or 9-3 by most, and was coming off 4-5 and 7-6 campaigns, the 2022 season must be considered a success. The Nittany Lions were the bug against Michigan and Ohio State (as was everyone else in the Big Ten), but they were the windshield against every other opponent on the schedule, winning those 10 games by the average margin of 25 points.

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