Penn State Football vs Ohio State: 3 players who need career nights for the Nittany Lions to pull off upset

STATE COLLEGE, PA - NOVEMBER 30: Mike Miranda #73 of the Penn State Nittany Lions prepares to snap the ball during the second half of the game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Beaver Stadium on November 30, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

3 of 3

Sean Clifford #14 of the Penn State Nittany Lions(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

Penn State Football QB – Sean Clifford

While Sean Clifford was clearly not 100% last week against Illiniois, he certainly still made too many mistakes throwing the ball that cannot happen against Ohio State.

Whether he is healthy enough to use his legs this week or not, he needs to be more accurate standing in the pocket and throwing the ball than he was a week ago.

Not only does the third-year starter need to be more accurate than he has been the past few weeks, but he also needs to make the right decision and find the open receiver.

At his best, we have seen that Clifford can be a big asset to this offense, such as when he completed 87.5% of his passes for 280 yards and 2 touchdowns against Auburn.

If Clifford is pressured (which he certainly will be), he needs to know when to dump it off to one of the running backs out of the backfield, rather than forcing a throw downfield and potentially turning the ball over.

He has the weapons on the outside to make it happen, and a career night out of their team captain and starting quarterback would be huge for Penn State Football’s offense against the Buckeyes.

Home/Penn State Football