Rapid Reaction: Sean Clifford hits the 10K mark as Penn State asserts its dominance over Maryland

Sean Clifford got his career passing record and Penn State erased any doubt about who ranks as the third best team in the Big Ten.

At home Saturday against Maryland, the Nittany Lions showed off young talent coming of age with a second straight trouncing of a B1G East opponent. A week after ripping Indiana on the road, Penn State flattened Maryland 30-0 on a wet, windy day at Beaver Stadium.

Maryland entered the game just a game behind Penn State in the overall and divisional standings. Mike Locksley’s Terps (6-4, 3-4) left State College looking light years behind the No. 14 Lions (8-2, 5-2). With Illinois losing a 3rd game and 2nd in a row Saturday vs. Purdue, Penn State stands clearly and inarguably as No. 3 behind Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten after 11 weeks of play.

Penn State is now 42-3-1 all-time against the Maryland with 8 shutouts.

Clifford didn’t even play particularly well, missing open receivers on several deep balls, but it didn’t matter as running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen took center stage behind a patchwork offensive line led by one of their true freshman classmates.

Drew Shelton again started at left guard in place of Olu Fashanu as the line played without 3 starters for a second straight week.

Another true freshman, Zane Durant, made the first of Penn State’s 7 sacks on the day as the defense held Maryland to negative yardage well into the second quarter. Terps quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa couldn’t get his offense moving at all until the Lions were already up 21-0. Even then, the going was tough. True freshman linebacker Abdul Carter (1 sack) and others kept Tagovailoa on the run, batting down some of his passes and forcing him to throw away others. At one point in the first quarter, the Terps’ 3rd-year starter at QB dumped the ball off to an ineligible offensive lineman just to get rid of it.

Penn State’s defense pressured and chased so effectively that Maryland’s offense was all but inoperable.

Meanwhile, the Lions pounded away on the ground and got occasional plays from their 24-year-old, 6th-year quarterback.

Clifford, who has started 33 of PSU’s 35 games since the 2019 season opener, passed predecessor Trace McSorley for the career passing yards record on the Lions’ first drive. He set the mark on his third pass/second completion of the day, a 16-yarder to Brenton Strange that set up a 3-yard TD pass to Strange 4 plays later.

Clifford hit a cold spell immediately afterward, but Singleton and Allen were dominating by then behind a starting line that went left-to-right with Shelton, Hunter Nourzad, Juice Scruggs, Sal Wormley and Bryce Effner for the second straight Saturday. By halftime, Singleton had 113 yards, including TD jaunts of 45 and 27 yards, on just 8 carries. Allen had 13 carries for 66 yards.

Singleton improved the freshman rushing TD record to 10, breaking a tie with Allen. It was Singleton’s first 100-yard game since Week 3 against Auburn, and the long TD run improved his Power 5-leading total to 6 runs of 40+ yards.

By halftime, with Penn State leading 27-0, the only drama remaining concerned whether Clifford would get 9 more passing yards to reach 10,000 — something only 6 Big Ten quarterbacks had ever done — or if 5-star freshman Drew Allar would get all the second half reps.

Clifford did stay in post-halftime, and hit tight end Theo Johnson for 33 yards to go over the 10K mark. After that drive ended in a field goal for a 30-0 lead, head coach James Franklin decided the lead was comfortable enough and entered Allar into the game.

Clifford finished 12-of-23 for 139 yards and a TD, earning his 29th victory as PSU’s starter. He’s 2 behind McSorley in that category, just about the only one he’s not already No. 1 in. The “bonus” 2020 season — 9 games with 8 starts for Clifford — certainly helped boost the numbers, but Clifford’s career would fit into a standard 4-year career plus a redshirt season (4 mop-up appearances in 2018). He just got an extra non-playing year to mature. Make of that what you will.

Like a week earlier against Indiana, Allar came in midway through the third quarter, getting some series with the primary starters before finishing the game with myriad reserves.

The outcome was long since decided thanks to first-year defensive coordinator Manny Diaz’s swarming unit. Again playing without starting linebacker Curtis Jacobs, the group held Maryland to 27 yards and 4 first downs before the break. Durant, Carter, Ji’Ayir Brown, Adissa Isaac and Chop Robinson had sacks totaling 36 yards in losses as Diaz sent pressure from all levels of the defense — an approach he has employed all season.

Before a brief offensive burst midway through the second quarter, the Terps had minus-14 yards on their first 15 plays. It never did get much better for Tagovailoa, younger brother of Miami Dolphins’ starter Tua, who still had only 74 yards on 11-of-22 passing with the rain getting heavy as the third quarter drew to a close.

Up next for Penn State

The Nittany Lions travel across the state border into New Jersey to take on Rutgers (4-6, 1-6), which loss 27-21 Saturday at Michigan State. The Lions will be looking to extend a 15-game winning streak in the series and keep working toward a top 10 ranking and possible New Year’s 6 bowl. Rutgers will be looking to win for the first time since 1988 and just the 3rd time 33 all-time meetings.

Up next for Maryland

It’ll be out of the frying pan and into the fire for the Terps, who will host unbeaten No. 2 Ohio State next Saturday. Maryland has never beaten the Buckeyes in 7 tries since joining the Big Ten in 2014.

Luke Glusco

Luke Glusco is a Penn State graduate and veteran journalist. He covers Penn State and occasionally writes about other Big Ten programs and topics. He also serves as the primary copy editor for Saturday Tradition.