Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford seems to have lost his confidence this season for the winless Nittany Lions, struggling to find a rhythm behind an under-performing offensive line and no semblance of a rushing attack with several elite-level ballcarrier no longer available.
The College GameDay crew assessed Clifford’s play prior to kickoff on Saturday at Nebraska and in the first half, it was more of the same issues with the veteran quarterback after an early throw to the boundary was off the mark and picked off by the Huskers and a second-quarter fumble resulted in a 26-yard return for a score.
Nebraska’s scoop and score widened the gap to 24-3 before halftime, the Huskers’ largest lead of the season.
“Sean Clifford isn’t going to throw 50 times a game and win,” Desmond Howard said during Saturday’s GameDay telecast.
On Penn State’s next possession, Clifford missed a wide open receiver in the red zone on third down and ended up throwing the ball out of the back of the end zone. Penn State would settle for a field goal.
“I can not figure Penn State out,” Kirk Herbstreit said. They’re turnover margin is destroying them. They can’t run the ball. It’s putting Sean Clifford and the offense in a really difficult spot to have any kind of balance. They’re defense is giving up big plays through the air and there’s a lot of things not going well.
Here’s some of the reaction nationally following Clifford’s disastrous start:
