When Penn State takes the field in The Big House on Saturday, it will be Day No. 2,651 of the partnership of head coach James Franklin and quarterback Sean Clifford.
Clifford committed to Franklin and the Nittany Lions on July 13, 2015 – the day before his 17th birthday. (Drew Allar was 11-years-old at the time.)
It was so long ago that John Donovan was Penn State’s offensive coordinator and Ricky Rahne was the QB coach — for the first of two times.
James, now 50 years old and Cliff, a grizzled veteran of 24, have been through a lot together since.
Six seasons. Five offensive coordinators. A million and one other guys in the PSU QB room. Where there’s a Sean, there’s a will to go to Kentucky.
Clifford over Tommy Stevens. Clifford over Will Levis. Clifford over Drew Allar.
Save for a start by Levis against Iowa in 2020 — instigated by OC-for-a-season Kirk Ciarrocca? — when Penn State was riding a four-game pandemic-induced losing streak, Franklin has always picked Clifford as his starting quarterback.
As that other Franklin said, “Haste makes waste.”
James has calmly, coolly, collectively named Clifford his starter since the 2019 season-opener, when Penn State and Cliff barely squeaked past Idaho, 79-7. CJF and QB1 Have been tethered together since.
And we still don’t know how Penn State football historians (Hello, Lou Prato) will rate their time together. But, time — and the Wolverines, the Gophers and the Buckeyes — will soon tell.
Starting Saturday, the 15 days that comprise Penn State’s stretch run of Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State are the most crucial of Franklin and Clifford’s complicated partnership.
That run of three games on three consecutive Saturdays will most certainly be the defining moments of Clifford’s Penn State career. If PSU goes 3-0, he’s golden. If he goes 0-3 or 1-2, he may finish his career with tons of passing records, but his legacy will be greatly diminished. And he may even find himself on the bench.
Franklin will be at Penn State long past Clifford, and Cliff’s backup – Allar – may be the one QB who delivers Franklin to the promised land of the College Football Playoff.
A desultory performance by the Nittany Lions and/or Clifford in the next few short weeks could start the Allar Era sometime in 2022. But, we are getting ahead of ourselves.
The future is now for Cliff and James.
It’s a future that has been running in molasses for months…years.
Clifford has been a team captain four consecutive seasons, a team record he co-owns with Jonathan Sutherland. He’s been around Penn State longer than nine of PSU’s current 10 assistant coaches; the outlier is the man the folks in Lasch call “OG” — literal greybeard Terry Smith, who Franklin hired for his original PSU staff in 2014.
It is a pairing of head coach and star quarterback that has extended through six seasons of eligibility, the addition of brother Liam to the roster, injuries, that 2020 benching vs. Iowa, an interrupted labor meeting this past summer led by none other than Cliff and the formation of an NIL business by the star QB.
And, still Franklin seems not 100% sold on Clifford. As recently as Tuesday. As in, the other day.
At his weekly presser, when asked about the progress of Clifford – who was a mediocre 10-of-20 for 140 yards passing, with a sterling TD toss to Brenton Strange and an ill-advised pick vs. Northwestern in the heavy rain — Franklin was not exactly limitless in his praise of his very veteran game manager. (Ouch.)
“Sean has done some really good things,” Franklin said. “I think there’s some plays that he would like back. There’s no doubt about it.
“But I think overall the way he has managed our offense, whether it’s the passing game and
the protections, whether it’s the run game and getting everybody on the same page in terms
of how we’re ID’ing the front, then it’s making those four-to-six plays a game that you need
your quarterback to make, that the media or the fan or the coach would watch the game and
say, ‘That was a critical play in the game that Sean was able to make for us.’
“I think his entire career and his entire season kind of keeps building up and leading up to
moments like this and opportunities like this.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that there are some plays he would like back, there’s some
plays that we would like back.”
Sounds like James and Sean have been married for a long time.
BIG START IN THE BIG HOUSE
Saturday’s start in Ann Arbor will be Clifford’s 39th at Penn State. He’ll pass Christian Hackenberg (38 starts, 21-17,.552) and will be breathing down the neck of all-time co-leaders Trace McSorley (40 starts, 31-9, .775) and Tony Sacca (40 starts, 29-10-1, .7375).
Clifford is 26-12 (.684) as a starter, having won his last five starts. The 26 wins is tied with John Hufnagel for fifth; up ahead are Chuck Fusina (28-3, .906), Todd Blackledge (29-4, .879) and Sacca (29) and McSorley (31).
But, TBH, Clifford’s career as a starter – and Franklin’s recent trajectory as well, since they are riding tandem – and been up and down. To say the least. And most.
Here’s the chart of a starter whose EKG looks like a guy who spent a lifetime at Taco Bell (OK, it’s Cliff):
8-0.
Then 2-6.
Then 9-0.
Then 2-6.
Then 5-0.
Next up: Michigan, whose starting quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, happens to lead the NCAA in completion percentage (78.3%) and is fifth nationally in pass efficiency (182.1).
Conversely, Clifford is No. 73 in completion percentage (62.0%) and No. 56 in passing efficiency (144.0).
But hey, both QBS are leading teams that are 5-0 and ranked in the top 10 — Michigan is No. 5 in the Associated Press Poll and Penn State is No. 10.
Saturday is the beginning of the end of Sean Clifford’s Penn State career. How will it turn out?
I don’t think anyone knows. And that includes James Franklin.
