The 3-and-out: 3 quick takes on Penn State’s 33-24 loss to Ohio State

Who are these guys?

Penn State played hard and tough against the No. 5 team in the nation, matching blows with Ohio State deep into the fourth quarter. There were goal-line stands. There were red zone wins on both sides of the ball.

It begged the question, and Rich Scarcella of the Reading Eagle asked it in the postgame media scrum with head coach James Franklin: What changed in the 1 week since the 20-18 loss to Big Ten bottom dweller Illinois?

“All I can speak [to] is I thought we played well tonight. … I thought we battled tonight,” Franklin said. Then, before answering the next question, Franklin circled back to add: “I thought one of the biggest differences was Sean’s health tonight.”

Saturday night at the Horseshoe, with QB Sean Clifford fully engaged, Penn State looked like it has over the past 5 seasons, like a program closer to the Buckeyes’ level than to the Illini’s. Franklin’s teams have lost 5 straight to the Buckeyes, with a couple of 1-point losses and none by more than 2 scores. That may sound like a hollow accomplishment in the wake of a 33-24 loss, but it’s way more than any other B1G East school can boast.

“We didn’t play good enough to win tonight, but we’re close,” Franklin said. “I’m gonna keep working with these guys, loving these guys, and we’ll find a way to get a win next week.”

That would be Maryland, for a 3:30 ET kickoff. Call me a skeptic, but I think the team that shows up in College Park is just as likely to be the one that lost in 9 OTs to Illinois as the one that put a scare into Ohio State. Even with a healthy Clifford, this team has major issues along with its strengths. And I’m not convinced this squad can get properly motivated to battle a fellow also-ran in the East.

“I’m glad we played hard, and there’s going to be a bunch of positive things on that tape to learn from and grow from,” Franklin told reporters late Saturday evening. “But there’s some critical mistakes that we have to eliminate if we want to win consistently.”

The reality is, though, that these Lions are on a 3-game losing streak. A team that was eyeing a Playoff run until Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell knocked Clifford out of a top-5 showdown 3 weeks ago is now playing out the string for a head coach rumored to be leaving. How much these guys care about chasing 10 wins and a NY6 bowl bid is anybody’s guess.

If I were a betting man, I’d stay away from Lions-Terps. Who knows what version of Penn State will show up for that one.

Running on empty

Penn State managed 33 yards on 29 carries, and Franklin somehow saw that as a positive.

“I thought we ran the ball better. … We didn’t get any explosive runs, but I thought we were much more efficient in our run [game]. We were able to keep it mixed in there to keep them honest.

“We needed to do that. You can’t just drop back against that type of pass rush. That’s not the right thing to do for our offense, it’s not the right thing to do for our O-line and for Sean. I thought we did a good job of mixing it up tonight. I thought we were more physical, broke some tackles, made some people miss, things like that.”

Might want to check the video on this one, Coach.

The O-line got even less push than the week before and let Clifford get sacked 4 times for a second straight week. Other than a couple short-yardage touchdown runs — one of them by WR Jahan Dotson — the run game functioned only to give Clifford’s arm a brief rest in between his 52 attempts.

John Lovett led the backs with 20 yards on 13 carries. Noah Cain — who sat for an extended period after losing a fumble early — finished with 13 yards on 5 carries, with a team-best 11-yard carry. Keyvone Lee had 9 yards and a TD on 3 carries. Take away the sacks, and Clifford had 11 yards on 3 carries with a long of 10. (Side note: Cain’s lost fumble was PSU’s first of the season, leaving Missouri as the only FBS team that hasn’t lost one this season.)

This season, the Lions are on pace for 1,406 rushing yards, assuming they make a bowl. That’s less than they produced in last year’s 9-game season and more than 1,000 yards less than in the 2019 and 2018 seasons. It would be their worst rushing season since 2014, Franklin’s first year, when Akeel Lynch and Bill Belton were the top backs.

Too much pressure on Clifford

Sean Clifford completed 35 passes Saturday, a career single-game best. He put the ball up 52 times, more than in all but 1 of his 28 starts for the Lions. He was sacked 4 times and had 3 other rushing attempts. That means he was a main ball handler on 73 percent of Penn State’s plays. With 361 passing yards and 11 lost on the ground, he contributed to 89 percent of the team’s 394 total yards.

On several of those plays he was under major duress, particularly from defensive end Tyreke Smith, who forced Clifford into 2 turnovers. The first came on Smith’s first-half strip sack, which sent DT Jerron Cage off on a 57-yard scoop-and-score TD rumble. In the second half, a hard-rushing Smith forced Clifford into an ill-advised throw that resulted in the QB’s 6th interception of the season.

Penn State was +6 in turnover margin during its season-opening 5-game winning streak. losing the ball only 3 times. But it is -2 over the past 3 outings, with 7 giveaways (4 vs. Iowa, 3 vs. OSU). Clifford is responsible for 7 of the 10 lost possessions.

With the weight of the offense entirely upon him thanks to an anemic run game and weak O-line, those numbers will probably keep trending in the wrong direction.

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.