Sunday Column: As Penn State Finally Approaches The Edge of the Cliff, An Examination of his Much-debated Quarterbacking Tenure

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.

First, the stats. Entering Monday’s game, Clifford ranks seventh in the Big Ten career in passing yards with 10,832 and sixth all-time in total yards with 11,456. He’s 140 total yards from former teammate Trace McSorley and likely to pass him to reach the fourth-place spot on the list, and with 335 total yards, would also pass Minnesota’s Adam Weber into solo third.

At Penn State, Clifford is already the school’s all-time leader in passing yardage and passing touchdowns, and, yes, while those totals were helped considerably by the number of games he’s had the chance to play in over the course of six seasons, four of which were spent as the starter, he also ranks first in completion percentage and third in passing efficiency. If the Nittany Lions beat the Utes, Clifford will have 32 career wins, making him the solo leader among Penn State QBs in that category.

And that last stat is why we’re here, isn’t it? It’s tricky to compare QB stats across eras, because the nature of passing attacks has changed at all levels of the sport, but QB wins—a tricky stat on its own—transcends time. Should Penn State fall on Monday, Clifford will also own 15 career losses, which is not a terrible number over the course of four seasons. However, half of the present 14 defeats have been at the hands of either Ohio State (4), Michigan (2) or Michigan State (1), the divisional opponents that should roughly be considered Penn State’s peers.

Clifford’s boom-or-bust nature—he’s shown long stretches of pinpoint passing and timely runs, only to be followed by mind-blowing strings of three-and-outs or passes directly to defensive backs—has been both a byproduct and a major contributor to Penn State’s overall offensive inconsistency during his time here. The style of his play itself is a study in variability; he looks uncomfortable in clean pockets yet is rarely sacked, while his throwing mechanics are pinpoint on one play and a back-foot nightmare the next.

This season, Clifford’s best or second-best statistically, the Nittany Lions put the offensive hammer down against their weaker foes, topping 30 points in nine games and 40 points in five, but came apart against Michigan in the Big House (Clifford was 7-of-19 for 120 yards, adding 74 yards rushing) and in the second half against Ohio State (Clifford threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns against the Buckeyes but also had three picks and a lost fumble).

Now, would a different quarterback in those games, and in other confounding losses the last few years, have made a notable difference for Penn State? The answer to that question might be made available when Drew Allar or Beau Pribula takes the car keys this coming fall, but it’s not an easy one. On just as many, or nearly as many, occasions as Clifford put his team in a bad spot by throwing an ill-advised pass or missing an open receiver over the years, he saved them from messes (blown blocking assignments, a lack of separation from receivers) elsewhere on the field. Not only did he receive disproportionate amounts of blame when things went wrong, he often was criticized, especially during the last couple of seasons, even when his team won.

And yet, great quarterbacks elevate the level of the entire offense if not the entire team, and it’s hard to say that Clifford did that, especially against the big dogs on the schedule, at any point in his long career. That alone will account for a substantial chunk of his legacy regardless of Monday’s outcome.

The remaining piece of that legacy will come into clearer view in Clifford’s absence this fall. It’s not unimaginable to see the offense take off, or at least show more consistency, once Allar (or Pribula) gets rolling. But it’s also very easy to imagine that the problems Clifford had to deal with for the bulk of his tenure—curious-to-catastrophic offensive playcalling, a scarcity of open targets, up-and-down offensive line play—will be waiting for his successor, too. Clifford might not have been the guy to get the Nittany Lions where they needed to go, but that doesn’t mean he was the guy holding them back. Not the only guy, anyway.