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Sean Clifford Puts Together Breakout Performance Against Maryland

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.”

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.

Clifford, Journey Brown, and Jahan Dotson celebrated his first-quarter rushing touchdown with an impressive White Out crowd’s full backing.

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.

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.”

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About the Author

Mikey Mandarino

In the most upsetting turn of events, Mikey graduated from Penn State with a digital & print journalism degree in the spring of 2020. He covered Penn State football and served as an editor for Onward State from 2018 until his graduation. Mikey is from Bedminster, New Jersey, so naturally, he spends lots of time yelling about all the best things his home state has to offer. Mikey also loves to play golf, but he sucks at it because golf is really hard. If you, for some reason, feel compelled to see what Mikey has to say on the internet, follow him on Twitter @Mikey_Mandarino. You can also get in touch with Mikey via his big-boy email address: [email protected]

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