ALTOONA, Pa. -- Sean Clifford threw 47 passes in Penn State's win at Maryland on Saturday, and that came a week after he threw 52 passes in a loss at Ohio State.
Did you ever think you'd see the day when a Penn State quarterback would attempt 99 passes over two games? It's almost unbelievable. Going back to the Iowa game, Clifford threw the ball 25 times in 17 minutes before getting hurt, putting him on pace for 60 attempts.
This isn't Texas Tech, or BYU, or Houston, or one of the other programs with a history of throwing the ball a ton.
This is Penn State. Known for rugged running, great tailbacks, 3 yards and a cloud of dust kind of football.
But clearly, this isn't your father's or grandfather's Penn State football.
This year's Nittany Lion team has no choice but to sling the ball all over the field, because it simply cannot run the ball effectively. We wrote last week that this is the second-worst Penn State running attack ever.
For the Lions to beat Michigan this week, they likely will have to follow the same script of having Clifford throw and throw and throw. It would be a surprise, really, if he doesn't throw the ball at least 40 times, which would give Clifford three consecutive games of topping that mark.
Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich obviously likes having his quarterback throw a lot. But this much? Clifford's 52 passes at Ohio State were the fourth most ever by a Penn State quarterback in a game. Clifford set that record when he threw 57 passes in last year's blowout loss to Maryland.
I asked James Franklin on Tuesday if this sort of thing is just something Penn State fans are going to have to get used to given the running struggles.
"I guess for me, whatever we have to do to win, and that's going to be different year to year, that's going to be different game to game," Franklin said. "I think the important thing that we've talked about before, is I do think we took a positive step again in the run game on Saturday. But we have to continue to do that. And I think the important thing is you can win by throwing it 50 times a game, but I also want us to be in a position that if we need to run the ball 30 times, 40 times in a game that we can do that and still win.
"That's challenging for any offense to be able to do. But that's the ultimate goal. I want us to make sure we're continuing to take steps in that direction, not only throughout this season, but also our time here. That's the ultimate goal, though, is to be able to do both at a really high level, and that's when that's when you really difficult to stop."
Penn State's passing game has been difficult to stop for the most part this year. The Lions rank 25th nationally in passing offense, averaging 277.7 yards per game.
Just for comparison, when Penn State went undefeated with its elite offense in 1994, star quarterback Kerry Collins averaged 243.5 yards passing per game. That team, of course, had a sensational running game, led by Ki-Jana Carter, and obviously, teams throw more nowadays as the game has evolved.
This Penn State team does not have anything close to a good running game, ranking 117th in the nation at just 107.0 yards per game.
Running against Michigan will be tough, as the Wolverines rank 30th in the nation in run defense, allowing 124.7 yards per game.
So, it likely will be a whole lot more of Clifford throwing and throwing, mixing up shorter throws that are an extension of the running game along with taking shots down the field to Jahan Dotson.
ENDS OF THE LINE
Penn State has a pair of offensive tackles who are projected to be good NFL players in Rasheed Walker and Caedan Wallace. For as much potential as they have, those two really haven't performed well when it comes to run blocking this season.
Franklin had this to say when asked about those two players.
"I think for the most part in pass protection pretty good, especially based on the question I got earlier, based on how many times we're throwing the ball each game.
"I think we need to be more consistent and more physical in the run game. I think that's something that will not only help our offense, but it will also help them when you can use the physicality of the run game to bang on guys. That maybe makes them less effective in the pass game, and so they're not just pinning their ears back and coming off that edge every single down."
HANSARD SUSPENDED FOR HIT
Franklin said defensive tackle Fred Hansard has been suspended for the first half of this week's game against Michigan after his controversial play in the game at Maryland.
Terps quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa ran out of bounds on a play, and Hansard pushed him with enough force to knock Tagovailoa down to the ground.
Hansard issued an apology on social media Monday.
Franklin praised Hansard for his character during his Penn State career but said that play warranted discipline.
"I didn't know about it until after the game; I was not aware at all," Franklin said of the play. "And then I saw the clip, and obviously the optics of it don't look great.
"But I do want to say this: Fred Hansard has been here for four years, he has been a model citizen and a model student-athlete. He's a super impressive young man that's going to go on and do great things. ... I don't think Fred had any intentions to hurt another player or anything like that. I think it was a reaction. But at the end of the day, it's not a good look, right?
"So, the Big Ten did reach out to us and asked us what we're doing. We're going to suspend Fred for the first half of the game. ... But again, Fred's been a class act since he since he got here."
ABOUT THAT END-OF-HALF SITUATION
Penn State got the ball back with more than a minute remaining and three timeouts at the end of the first half at Maryland, yet Franklin chose to go conservative instead of trying to push the ball up the field to score, as he usually does.
It seemed like an odd decision, and the coach downplayed it after the game when he said he just wanted to give the media something to talk about at halftime.
Franklin explained his reasoning Tuesday.
"That's the end of the half, you haven't played as well as you want to play in the first half," he said. "From a time perspective, they still had three timeouts. So if you throw the ball for three downs there trying to be aggressive to go down and score in a two-minute drive and they use their timeouts, or you throw the ball and they conserve their timeouts on incompletions, you could put them in a situation where they could get the ball and get some points at the end of the half.
Typically, Franklin added, what he likes to do there is "run the ball hoping that you pop one into a light box and then you can transition from a four-minute mentality in terms of running the ball back into a two-minute if you can get a chunk play. ... Do you want to take a shot to the end zone, do you do one of those Hail Mary or flee-flickers where you throw the ball around and and typically the end and a half? Those aren't the right things to do. But that was the discussions, although it was received extremely well by the fans in the media."
