For many Penn State fans, Saturday felt all too familiar. A bruised and battered No. 14 constantly under duress making errant throws as the Lions fell to a “local rival.”

In 2015, it was Christian Hackenberg completing 44% of his passes while being sacked 10 times in a loss to Temple in Year 2 under James Franklin. In 2020, it was Sean Clifford completing 47% of his passes while being sacked 7 times in Year 7 under Franklin in a complete rout by Maryland.

In both instances, Franklin never pulled the QB. He never has during his tenure in Happy Valley. But as Clifford jogged into the locker room at halftime having completed just 6 of 20 passes with stretches of 6 straight and 7 straight incompletions, the question begged to be asked: Why didn’t Penn State pull its redshirt junior QB?

“For me, with starting quarterbacks, you want to do everything you possibly can with your starting quarterback to give him a chance to be successful, and rally the team,” Franklin said after Penn State’s 35-19 loss to Maryland. “The guy’s in that position for a reason. In the second half, we thought we had an opportunity to go out and get this thing swung in the right direction, and at the time we thought it was the right decision.”

Clifford entered the 2020 season as one of the better returning passers in the Big Ten. In 2019, the first-year starter ranked fourth in the conference in passer efficiency, trailing only Ohio State’s Justin Fields, Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan and Wisconsin’s Jack Coan. He was never going to be the guy that would win you a game, but he also wasn’t going to lose it.

On Saturday, facing a 3rd-and-15 at the Maryland 16 down 28 points, Clifford backpedaled, scrambled around and took a 16-yard sack, setting up a 4th-and-31 and a missed field goal. It’s been that type of year for the Lions’ QB — one with far too many overthrows of an open Pat Freiermuth, one with an exorbitant amount of mental mistakes that a player with 15 career starts under his belt shouldn’t be making.

Through three games this season, Clifford has completed 69 of 122 passes for 859 yards. He has thrown 9 touchdowns to 5 interceptions. He’s been sacked 13 times while also carrying the ball 15 more times than the closest Penn State running back.

“Mentally, I’m pissed,” Clifford said. “That’s probably the only way I can describe it. We’re an 0-3 football team. I’ve never been on an 0-3 football team, and I’ve never lost like this in my life. … Something isn’t right, right now. We have to correct it.”

This certainly isn’t the time or place to pile solely on Clifford. There are myriad areas of concern for the Lions. In fact, it’s hard to name an area that isn’t a problem.

But if ever there was a time to explore the depth at the quarterback position, this is it. At 0-3 in this bizarre, COVID-plagued season, Franklin and Co. need to consider evaluating the options for 2021 and beyond.

Because of special rules enacted for this season, Clifford is eligible to play in two more seasons after this one. Perhaps Franklin likes the idea of having a veteran quarterback locked in through 2022.

For the sake of Penn State’s program moving forward, let’s hope that’s the case. Otherwise, it speaks to the talents — or rather lack thereof — of the quarterbacks who wait behind Clifford.

Clifford is the only 4-star recruit at the quarterback position with experience on Penn State’s roster. Redshirt sophomore Will Levis has played in 9 games, but other than stats put up in garbage time against Idaho in 2019, he hasn’t exactly set the world on fire. Redshirt freshman Ta’Quan Roberson would be next in line, but he’s never thrown a collegiate pass.

And worse, help doesn’t appear to be on the way after PSU missed out on top QB recruit Caleb Williams, who had Penn State in his top 5 before committing to Oklahoma. A 3-star recruit, Christian Veilleaux, is the highest-rated quarterback in James Franklin’s self-admittedly less-than-stellar Class of 2021.

With Penn State headed to Nebraska for a game featuring two disappointed, winless teams, it probably doesn’t make too much sense to turn away from a veteran amidst team tumult.

“We’re not as one right now,” receiver Jahan Dotson conceded after the Maryland loss.” We’re not a unit right now. There’s a lot of different things going on. Right now, we have a lot of individuals. A lot of guys thinking about things that they shouldn’t be thinking about right now.”

The last thing this team needs in the moment is to have an identity crisis under center. But as this perverse season continues to distance itself from the highs of 2016 and 2017, a time may come when Franklin has to pull the plug. Otherwise, the chirping will only intensify for pulling the plug on Franklin.