ALTOONA, Pa. -- Penn State routinely finds themselves on the outside looking in when it comes to the College Football Playoff, mainly because they fall in some sort of way to Ohio State or last year Minnesota.
The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 15 in the country in points per game with 35.8 and boasted running back Journey Brown who amassed 1,024-yards from scrimmage and quarterback Sean Clifford who threw got 2,654-yards and 23 touchdowns on 189 completions.
Yet with that productivity, it still wasn't enough to overcome the Buckeyes or the Golden Gophers as the offense sputtered in both games. The Penn State offense could muster only 227-yards of total offense against Ohio State while coming up short on their final drive as Clifford threw his third and final interception on the day.
"If you look at the things we messed up on last year, it wasn't it was a terrible game we had 10-15 plays that we missed," Clifford said Thursday afternoon during his virtual media day. "It it was one or two plays here and there. That's what's critical about what coach Franklin has preached to us."
Clifford and company hope things are different this year as they hired offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca away from Minnesota who he'd been with since 2017.
"When you watch the tape, you see an offense that's very detail oriented," Clifford said of the new offense. "You don't see a lot of MA's (missed assignments) and when you get to know coach Ciarracco you understand why."
Should you not follow the details and do what Ciarrocca says, Clifford sums it up rather succinctly, "He's gonna get on your (rear end)."
The addition of Ciarrocca has gone as smoothly as possible given the circumstances surrounding a lack of spring ball, Covid and the delay to the season.
"There's a lot of confidence that comes with his experience at this point in his career," James Franklin said Wednesday. "It's made this transition pretty smooth."
With Ciarrocca, who's spent 31-years in coaching, the offensive mentality and philosophy he plans to follow is simple: Do your job better than the other team does theirs.
"[We] have to do what we do better than how you (opponents) do what you do," Ciarrocca said Wednesday during his virtual media day press conference. "We have to be physical. We believe in explosive plays, but explosive plays come from execution."
Those fine details are what could put Penn State back in familiar territory on the outside looking into the playoffs.
"Details are the most important thing because A) It's a new offense and B) we're battling the clock," Clifford said. "We don't have much time and we haven't had the spring and the summer to develop this the way we want to."
It's imperative for the quarterback and offensive coordinator to be on the same page in nearly all facets of the game. So far, Ciarrocca and Clifford have gotten along just fine as they gear up to begin the season.
"My relationship with Sean is just continuing to grow, I don't think we had any problem connecting," Ciarrocca said. "He's improved in every area... his accuracy is improving every day. Sean's got an unbelievable work ethic and I'm excited to see where he can go."
The Penn State offense returns many of the same playmakers used to thump Memphis 53-39 to end the season last year. Joining Clifford in returning will be running backs Noah Cain and the aforementioned Brown who rushed for two touchdowns a piece as well as tight end Pat Freiermuth and wide receiver Jahan Dotson who also scored a touchdown against the Tigers.
There's still much more room for Clifford to improve and that's far from lost on the second-year signal caller.
"Just approach everyday the same," Clifford said. "Get your 1% better each day and find something you'll improve on because if you're not getting better, you're getting worse. That's something I learned from the day I got here, but coach Cirrocca harps on the details and finding the littlest things to get better at."
It will take more than just Clifford to get Penn State to the College Football Playoff for the first time. It's going to take the details Ciarrocca preaches and each player doing their respective jobs.
"We all know the talent we have, we all know the capabilities that we can have this season," Clifford said. "It's all about the work ethic and what we're going to do day in and day out to get there."
• Cain on first day of practice: "I was like a baby on Christmas yesterday," Cain said. "I haven't worn pads since the bowl game back in late December last year. So it was a blessing to put them back on and be able to go out there and compete against our great defense."
• Offensive tackle Will Fries on hitting the field with coaches: “It's different once you get on the field,” Fries said. “Zoom is its own thing and you can study while you're by yourself. (But) once you get on the field, he (offensive line coach Phil Trautwein) can show you these techniques, he can coach you up on the scheme. It's just so valuable to be out there with the whole unit and get that coaching. He's just doing a great job of working on our hands, working on our feet, being strong in pass protection and being strong at the point of attack in the run game using those coil and punch techniques.”
• Linebacker Ellis Brooks on learning from his elders: “[I learned from] their preparation, especially Jan Johnson’s,” Brooks said. “His preparation for the game, his film study, the amount of film study… I thought I watched film before I saw how Jan Johnson watched film. Once you have that mentality of what you don’t know, you’re always ready to learn. Once you have that attitude towards everybody, we learn and grow so much.
“Especially coming in as a younger guy, just be quiet and listen,” Brooks continued. “Listen as much as I can to pick up as much information as I can. As I got older, I would just say adapting the film study to the field was the next biggest step. It’s one thing to sit down and write notes, it’s another to translate it to the field. I would say that’s the biggest jump going forward.”
• Linebacker Jesse Luketa on leaving his legacy: “The Will position is where I’m at currently, so I’m excited,” Luketa said. “There’s gonna be a lot of guys who need to step up and make a name for themselves and leave a legacy at Penn State. That Will position, where I’m at right now. That’s all I’m focused on, leaving my legacy.”
• Luketa on living up to the expectations at linebacker: “I think a lot goes into that is that it’s the standard. You see the rich history of linebacker that have come here and then left their mark," Luketa said. "Guys from Paul Posluszny to Sean Lee to Novarro (Bowman) and the list goes on and on.
“The standard is the standard. So when I'm watching my film, and I'm able to pull up those old clips of Mike Hull, [Mike] Mauti and all those guys. Seeing how they played, the style of football, the swagger of what they were about and just how aggressive they played. That's what we want to continue to uphold. So you know when your number is called and your opportunity is finally here. That's the level that we need to be playing at.”