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Sean Clifford's roller-coaster career adds another gutty twist in Penn State season-opening win

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•09/02/22•

GregPickel

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Sean Clifford of the Penn State Nittany Lions makes the winning touchdown pass as Elijah Canion #5 of the Purdue Boilermakers defends during the second half at Ross-Ade Stadium on September 1, 2022 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

West Lafayette, Ind. — Sean Clifford isn’t perfect. The Penn State sixth-year quarterback has never claimed to be and never will. But, he sure knows how to battle.

Clifford added another gutsy chapter to his roller-coaster ride of a career on Thursday night in a 35-31 Lions win over Purdue. He took a low hit on his right knee in the first half that could have ended much differently had he not made a last-minute decision to sport a knee brace. Then, he needed fluid at halftime to deal with cramps on a warm night at Ross-Ade Stadium. That led to freshman Drew Allar making his debut for a series. But, shortly after, there was Clifford, running across the turf from the visitors’ locker room to his team’s huddle.

Of course, this night could be talked about in a much different light. In fact, it kind of sums up the quarterback’s career. On one hand, you have the horrendous fourth-quarter interception that saw the Penn State passer woefully miss a wide-open Mitchell Tinsley to instead find Boilermaker Chris Jefferson, who returned the pick 72 yards for a go-ahead touchdown. But, Clifford and his PSU teammates put that setback behind them to embark on a lightning-quick eight-play, 80-yard drive in 1:25 that ended with a Keyvone Lee touchdown catch to win the game.

Clifford will always be an enigma to Penn State fans. He’s made more winning plays than he gets credit for and has fought through more than many realize. But, he’s also committed costly turnovers, struggled with accuracy, and has had too many up-and-down games to count. And yet, on this night, he balanced the good and bad to secure a season-opening victory.

“The guys trust me,” Clifford said. “It was a nasty win. But, it’s one that I’ll remember forever, honestly. It was an up-and-down game, made a lot of mistakes. But, we won.”

Penn State must play a cleaner style moving forward

By and large, Week 1 is a mess for most college football teams. Penn State is no different. That’s not an excuse. After all, there are only so many opportunities to play, and the team must be ready for each of them.

The Lions were, and they were not. For all the good plays, there were an equal number of bad ones, be it the interception, or poor blocking, missed tackles, penalties, and so on. It was a winning formula on this night, but it won’t always be. Clifford knows that.

“It’s just one of those things where you can’t really harp on things you did wrong,” Clifford said. “It’s going to be ups and downs. We still put up a bunch of points. I’m proud of what we did today. I think that we have a lot to improve on, starting with myself. Fingers pointing right here. But, just happy to start 1-0, because you can’t go 2-0 without being 1-0.”

Penn State must now take the lessons it learned and be better because of them. That starts tomorrow. But first, there is a celebratory flight home.

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