If all goes well, Penn State will kick off its 2020 football season with a road game against Indiana in less than three weeks.
Nittany Lion fans shouldn’t count that contest as an easy win. Quarterback Sean Clifford led his team on an 18-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took 9:01 to ice a 34-27 victory against the Hoosiers, capping the drive with a 1-yard dive for the score.
The team needed Clifford to be great that day, and he was. But the win against Indiana was bookended by losses against Minnesota and Ohio State, which took the Nittany Lions out of the national championship conversation.
Over the course of the season, Clifford had 2,654 yards passing and another 402 on the ground. He is talented and showed grit in games like the Indiana win. But there were also times when he came up short.
The Nittany Lions entered that game against Minnesota with an 8-0 record and a No. 4 ranking. They were favored in the contest, and Clifford acknowledged last week that perhaps the pressure seeped in a bit.
“I’m trying to hold myself to a higher standard and learn from what happened last year,” Clifford said. “I have to grow from this game or that game. I have to grow from the mistakes I made. Feeling the high of being fourth in the country, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t listening to some of the outside sources instead of just putting my head down and grinding.”
The difference between a potential playoff run and a solid-yet-disappointing season for the Nittany Lions will weigh heavily on Clifford bonding with new offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, who came over this offseason from Minnesota. The coach is confident in the work ethic that Clifford has shown.
“He’s not afraid to put in the time, the energy or the effort,” Ciarrocca said. “He wants to be the best player he can be. He wants to realize his full potential.
“I think that probably he’s been able to see really how it all works. His accuracy’s improving every day. Sean’s got an unbelievable work ethic. He does.”
It’s no secret that missing spring practice, combined with the oddity of playing football with COVID-19 lurking, makes the already tough adjustment of a quarterback and new coordinator nearly impossible. The Nittany Lions can’t accept that excuse, though. Ciarrocca and Clifford know it.
“There has to be a trust between the two,” Ciarrocca said. “Out on the field, the quarterback is the extension of the offensive coordinator. You want to be able to think alike and solve problems in the same manner. There has to be a relationship.”
That relationship extends to other players as well. Tight end and consensus All-American Pat Freiermuth returns,but there will be questions about Clifford’s receiving corps in 2020. It’s a young group led by Jahan Dotson. On the flip side, running backs such as Journey Brown and Noah Cain and a veteran offensive line will bolster Clifford. In football, the quarterback gets the glory with wins and scorn with losses. Clifford is aware of this. He spoke as highly of Ciarrocca as his coach spoke of him, and Clifford believes Ciarrocca can help him become an elite quarterback.
“I think coach Ciarrocca has brought a bunch of different points. I can go on and on about the things that he’s brought to the table,” Clifford said. “I’m just excited to keep grinding.
“His approach is the same every day,” Clifford said of his coach. “He believes in getting 1% better each day. After you get better, you find something to improve on because you’re getting worse if you’re not getting better. Before each practice, I’ve written down at least three things to focus on.”
Clifford probably won’t share those notes with too many people. He also won’t need to show his work because the results will be on display in less than three weeks.
“Details are the most important thing because, A) it’s a new offense, and B) we’re battling the clock,” Clifford said. “We don’t have much time, and we haven’t had the spring and the summer to develop the way that we’ve wanted to.
“Football is a team game, and you need to get everybody together. The chemistry needs to be there. We talk about every day mentality, 1-0 mentality, but that takes precedent right now because we only have three or four weeks until this first game.”
