Penn State’s season has seen its fair share of ups and down, injuries and unexpected twists, all of which lends itself to asking the question “what if?”
And following Penn State’s 28-0 win over Rutgers on Saturday, a game that featured freshman Christian Veilleux taking over for a sick Sean Clifford and proceeding to throw for 235 yards and three touchdowns, it would be fair to ask a very simple question:
Where was Veilleux against Iowa and Illinois?
The answer is obviously not quite as straightforward as hindsight might allow you to believe. Early in the season Penn State had been leaning on the services of backup Ta’Quan Roberson by virtue of the fact Roberson had already been in the program for two years. And if nothing else Roberson was ever so slightly better, and far less rusty than Veilleux at the time — one might recall Veilleux had not played football in nearly two years, his senior season in high school canceled due to COVID-19.
So against Iowa, sticking Veilleux into that hornet’s nest is quite the ask and frankly didn’t make sense at the time. No matter how disjointed Penn State may have been with Roberson, there was no guarantee it would have been better with Veilleux.
And, as Penn State coach James Franklin noted on Saturday, nearly two months elapsed between that trip to Iowa City and a much more friendly afternoon in State College.
“A couple things — they’re allowed to get better,” Franklin said of players development over the course of the year.
“You know, at that point [against Iowa] it was not obvious that he was going to be the backup quarterback … Ta’Quan had been in the program longer and, really it was pretty obvious to everybody, that he gave us the best chance at that stage to win. After the way Veilleux played today, I get the question. I understand it totally, but he’s just gotten better. You got to remember, he didn’t play football his senior year. His season got canceled because of COVID. So, he just keeps getting better and I was proud of him. He was very poised today, made some plays with his legs, made some big-time throws, made some checks. Obviously, it’s something to build on, but I get the question. He’s gotten better, that’s the difference and that’s the reason.”
In the long run Saturday’s exercise in revisionist history is really just an exercise in pretending to know all the facts. It seems unlikely that Veilleux was the better option all this time and simply didn’t play and far more probable that he had improved over the course of the year — all of this pairing nicely with fact Rutgers is not very good. The flu forced Penn State’s hand on this occasion, but the Nittany Lions’ victory on Saturday was as much a product of Veilleux’s own improvement and Rutgers’ general incompetence as anything else.
In short, it’s not quite comparing apples to apples, or rather Iowa City in October to State College in November.
As for Penn State’s sloppy loss to Illinois, in the long run Franklin would be hard pressed to not play Clifford — even an injured Clifford — in a crucial Big Ten team against a defense far better than the one Rutgers’ fielded on Saturday. The Nittany Lions may have looked ugly that day but there’s scant evidence Veilleux would have changed that much. If nothing else Clifford at 80% still offered up a lower likelihood of making a grave mistake, and despite Veilleux’s performance on Saturday, there’s no way of knowing how he would have looked against a far better defense.
Except all the snaps he takes behind closed doors against Penn State’s own defense.
“His grasp and understanding of the playbook and knowing it inside and out,” Franklin said of what has changed for Veilleux over the months. “Him being able to adjust protections. You know, when you see a young quarterback in there, what are you gonna do? Light him up with blitzes and pressures. So adjusting the protection. It’s not just knowing the plays, you have to know your plays so well that you can focus on the defense.
“Then obviously he’s been able to get more reps. We’ve transitioned him into the into number two and he’s gotten more reps. So kind of a combination of all those things, him building confidence in himself and building confidence in us. I also mentioned the Sunday scrimmages that have been live for Ta’Quan and Veilleux to be able to evaluate those two guys. We don’t have preseason. So sometimes it’s challenging to be able to do that, but I get the question. Trust me.”
All of the borderline fan fiction aside, Veilleux did play with poise Saturday and delivered more than a few well thrown passes in key moments. Time will tell how ready he is for the even bigger stage — and that might not come until a quarterback competition with incoming freshman Drew Allar in 2022 — but he was ready for his name to be called on Saturday, and that counts for something.
“I want to give a big shoutout to Christian Veilleux,” Penn State receiver Jahan Dotson said. “Stepped in tremendously. It’s a tough job coming out here playing in front of a lot of people freshman year. I know it was tough for me, so I couldn’t imagine being in his shoes as the quarterback leading the ship. So, I just want to give a big shoutout to him. He did a great job leading us today.”
“His poise [impressed me the most],” Dotson added. “He was very poised, never seemed to get rattled at any moment in the game. Stayed calm, made the right reads. He had a tremendous game. It was everything and more that you can ask for in a freshman quarterback. I’m just excited to see what he’s going to do later down the line.”
