Penn State Football hits rock bottom in loss to Maryland
Penn State football’s season hit rock bottom today being dominated by Maryland 35-19 and falling to 0-3 on the season.
Penn State Football looked lifeless from the word go, as Maryland came into Happy Valley and handed the Nittany Lions there third consecutive loss, and there first loss to Maryland since 2015. Here are three major takeaways fro Saturday’s shocking loss.
Time to Move On
The Sean Clifford experiment is over.
A fiery and competitive demeanor endeared the redshirt junior to the Penn State fan base in 2019, but the honeymoon has ended. Clifford is more Anthony Morelli then he is Trace Mcsorley.
Clifford was an abysmal 27 of 57 for 340 yards against the Terps, adding another two interceptions bringing his total to five on the season. The numbers don’t tell the whole story for Clifford, who consistently missed open receivers all afternoon, throwing high and behind open pass catchers. Pocket awareness was also an issue for Clifford, when on the first drive of the second half, trailing 28-7, he held onto the ball too long and was eventually sacked and stripped of the ball which was returned for a touchdown, all but sealing an inevitable victory for Maryland.
It is time to start thinking about 2021 and look to redshirt freshman Ta’Quan Roberson. The New Jersey native is a former 4-star recruit, who was one of the top dual threat quarterbacks in the country coming out of high school. Make the best use of the remaining six games and think to the future, because it it evident Sean Clifford is not that.
Where’s the defense?
There were whispers this offseason that defensive coordinator Brent Pry might be on his way out to become a head coach elsewhere. Pry stayed, and maybe not to the benefit of the Nittany Lions.
Saturday’s game marked back to back weeks in which the Penn State defense was torched by the opposition, giving up 405 yards, 282 of which came through the air from Maryland quarterback Talulia Tagavailoa. Little Tua made it look easy vs this Penn State secondary in the first half, connecting on three touchdowns and putting the Nittany Lions in a 28-7 halftime hole.
The Penn State defense has now given up 30+ points in all three games this season, showing major regression 2019. Star linebacker Micah Parsons opting out of the season due to covid concerns was undoubtedly a major blow to this unit, but is not an excuse for how poor the defense has been. The defense was better in the second half, however seems unable to get off the field in key situations and gave up big play after big play to the Terps this afternoon.
Offensive Line continues to be an issue
Maryland came into this game have given up 587 rushing yards through two games this season, yet Penn State was unable to get anything going on the ground all afternoon.
The Nittany Lions ran for only 94 yards on 36 carries, with a 17 yard scamper by quarterback Sean Clifford being the biggest play of the game on the ground. Maryland came into this game with one sack in there first two games, however feasted on Penn State’s offensive line, sacking quarterback Sean Clifford seven times and added nine tackles for loss.
Clifford will rightfully shoulder the brunt of blame for an ineffective offense, however offensive line play is making it almost impossible for the offense to find a rhythm. No push upfront and creating no space for the running game made Penn State one dimensional yet again, leading to tight man to man coverage from the Terps.