Sean Clifford absolutely loves the game of football, and he had one of the most fun nights of his career in College Park on Friday.

“Football is my passion, and that’s just a fact,” Clifford said after Friday’s 59-0 demolition of Maryland. “I don’t really know what else I’d do without football, and that’s just the truth. I’m having a blast out here, and I want the fans to know that. This is the most fun I’ve ever had playing football. I owe it to my teammates, I owe it to the coaching staff, and I owe it to the fans.”

"Football is my passion, and that's just a fact. I really don't know what else I'd do without football."

Sean Clifford on his emotions surrounding the game of football after Penn State's 59-0 win over Maryland: pic.twitter.com/2xpFyH1qMr

— Onward State (@OnwardState) September 28, 2019

Penn State football won Friday’s Big Ten opener on the back of a career outing from its first-year starting quarterback. Clifford posted career highs in completions (26) and passing yards (398) while throwing three touchdown passes to three different receivers. The redshirt sophomore actually set the program record for the most passing yards in the first half of a game with 287.

Clifford’s best performance in a Penn State uniform is perhaps more impressive because it came immediately after one of his worst. He completed just 14 of his 30 pass attempts for 222 yards, which was his lowest total of the season, and he particularly struggled in completing deep passes against Pitt.

Penn State’s QB1 has never been shy about criticizing himself, and his performance in week 3 was definitely no exception.

“The bye week really helped. I took [the Pitt game] very personal,” Clifford said. “I had a lot of issues that I saw on tape, and I knew that I needed to make corrections if we’re going to be where I want to be. I still saw a lot of explosive plays that I left on the board. It’s just getting our playmakers open in space, and that just goes back to the basics.”

Though his performance may not have been 1000% perfect, Clifford definitely did an excellent job of getting back to the basics and allowing his receivers to make plays in space. KJ Hamler’s first-quarter touchdown in particular was a perfect example of why Clifford was so successful against the Terrapins.

KJ Hamler's hesi on his touchdown was straight disrespectful pic.twitter.com/IOvRkOWcMw

— Onward State (@OnwardState) September 28, 2019

Hamler did nearly all of the heavy lifting on this play — including a beautiful hop-step, hesitation, and juke to leave the Maryland secondary for dead. However, Clifford delivered a perfect strike to his top receiver in stride, which allowed the electric pass-catcher to do his thing.

The fact that Friday marked Clifford’s first-ever start outside of Beaver Stadium maybe got lost in the shuffle before and during the game. However, he managed the crowd noise in the early stages of the game masterfully in no small part thanks to preparing in equally-loud conditions at practice.

“The noise at practice is extremely loud to the point where I don’t know if we’ll ever face a stadium with that type of noise,” Clifford said. “It helps a lot, because the first play, you snap your fingers and we’re down right in front of their student section. It was a little loud, but practicing it helps a lot. It really didn’t affect anything — we had no communication problems tonight, especially with the offensive line.”

“I thought Sean was on fire,” head coach James Franklin said. “He really handled being on the road for the first time — and in a Big Ten environment. I thought the environment there to start the game was challenging, and I thought we handled it really well.”