Should Veilleux start over Clifford after Nittany Lions blank Rutgers?

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Let's enjoy, if we can, digesting this great line from James Franklin: "Between throw up and IV, it was an interesting week."

Penn State overcame a major flu outbreak within the team and was prepared to start a walk-on at quarterback Saturday against Rutgers. Guys were throwing up left and right during the week, as Franklin pointed out, and after giving it a go, starting quarterback Sean Clifford just couldn't perform at a very high level.

In stepped freshman backup Christain Veilleux, who hadn't played in a football game in two years, and all of a sudden, the Nittany Lions' offense came to life. Granted, it was against lowly Rutgers, but still.

After everything the Penn State football team had been through all week, cruising to a 28-0 win in the home finale at Beaver Stadium felt like a soothing remedy.

"I'm very proud of that locker room," Franklin said. "We faced as much adversity in this game as I've been around. We had 35 guys out for one reason or another -- 21 guys because of the flu, 14 guys who had the flu and played through it. Thursday, it looked like a hospital ward in there. There was IVs everywhere. Friday was the same way.

"We didn't have a scholarship quarterback at Friday's practice. We weren't sure what was going to happen."

What wound up happening is that everybody found out just how good Veilleux is, which makes us wonder some things.

My takeaways:

1. If Veilleux was this good all along, why in the world didn't he play at Iowa or against Illinois, both very costly losses?

It's a tremendous testament to Veilleux, who didn't get to play his senior year of high school and enrolled early in January, that he came out and performed so well Saturday.

He not only put up good numbers (15-of-24, 235 yards, 3 TDs), he did something perhaps even better.

He passed the eye test.

This kid looked the part of a pretty good college quarterback, someone the team could at least turn to if it needed to help win a game.

Prior to him taking the field, everybody was just assuming Penn State didn't have such a backup quarterback.

"We all knew that he was gonna come in and do something," Penn State safety Jaquan Brisker said. "He makes plays in practice, he prepares himself in practice, that's why it shows in the game. He doesn't just throw 5 yards, he really works on his craft, and it showed out there today."

Here's a look at Veilleux's first career touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson, which gave Penn State a 7-0 lead late in the first half.

And here's a look at Veilleux's second TD, a gorgeous throw in traffic to Parker Washington.

There was a whole lot to like about Veilleux, to be sure.

But ...

What were the Penn State coaches thinking?

Where was Veilleux when Clifford got hurt at Iowa? The second-string guy at the time was Ta'Quan Roberson, and to call his performance against the Hawkeyes a disaster would actually be an insult to the word disaster. The offense couldn't even function with Roberson at QB, getting called for about 147 false start penalties, and Iowa used that ineptitude to cash in on field position before rallying to win, 23-20.

And what were the coaches thinking against Illinois? Clifford was severely limited by his injury from the Iowa game, and it hurt Penn State's offense badly in the debacle nine-overtime 20-18 loss.

Surely the guy we saw playing quarterback Saturday would have given the Lions a better chance to win at Iowa or against Illinois, right? Veilleux wasn't just serviceable or a game manager, he was actually out there making plays Saturday.

Franklin was asked why Veilleux wasn't the backup QB initially, which very well could have saved the team from two losses.

"They're allowed to get better," Franklin said. "At that point (in previous games), it was not obvious that he was going to be the backup quarterback. I also don't know if going on the road at Iowa, No. 2 in the country, in his first three possessions at the minus-one, the minus-two and a minus-one. Ta'Quan had been in the program longer, and really, it's pretty obvious to everybody that he gave us the best chance at that stage to win."

Pretty obvious to everyone, huh?

So, one of two things happened here. Either EVERYBODY on the Penn State coaching staff was wrong about Veilleux at that stage, or the kid improved light years over the past month.

The correct answer is probably a little bit of both above.

"After the way Veilleux played today, I get the question," Franklin said. "I understand it totally, but he's just gotten better. You got to remember, he didn't play football his senior year. His season got canceled because of COVID. So, he just keeps getting better, and I was proud of him. He was very poised today, made some plays with his legs, made some big-time throws, made some checks. Obviously, it's something to build on, but I get the question. He's gotten better, that's the difference and that's the reason."

2. Can we make a case that Veilleux should start over Clifford in the regular-season finale at Michigan State?

Yes, we can make that case (which I'll do here in a bit).

But no, it won't happen.

And it shouldn't happen, not if Clifford is healthy, which you'd expect after the flu bug runs its course.

Clifford got hit by the flu late in the week, putting his playing status in question. Veilleux also was battling the illness, leaving walk-on Mason Stahl as a legit possibility to start Saturday.

Clifford didn't warm up before the game, so the starter was still somewhat in doubt. But he tried to give it a go.

"What happened was we had a wave of this illness, and then come Friday morning, the second wave hit us and that's when we didn't have a quarterback," Franklin said. "All of the quarterbacks were there earlier in the week, and then all of a sudden, they all got knocked out. After Sean got the first round of IV's we felt like he could go. That was Friday night. Then woke up, we're all waiting. Everyone's at breakfast, we told him to sleep in. He got another round of IV's and felt like he could go, so he wasn't out at warmup because he was getting IV's."

You know those stories about Michael Jordan or other players battling through the flu and having a tremendous game? Yeah, that's not what happened with Clifford. He looked really poor, leading three drives that went nowhere and completing 2-of-8 passes for 23 yards. Most of his misses were way off.

It was clear Clifford couldn't play at a high level. But if the dropoff to the backup was as bad as most people expected based on what we saw against Iowa, then winning the game -- even against lowly Rutgers -- seemed like a difficult task.

It wasn't. Because Veilleux was way, way better than anyone could have expected after replacing Clifford early in the second quarter. And also because Rutgers' offense is flat out terrible and stood no chance against Penn State's defense.

Now, back to trying to make a case that Veilleux should start over Clifford next week at Michigan State. I ran this Twitter poll during the game, and clearly the recency bias showed up as Veilleux ran away with the vote.

OK, so Clifford is probably done after this year. You'd think he'd move on from college football given his age and experience and give it a shot in the pros.

Penn State is going to need a quarterback next year.

Freshman Drew Allar probably won't be ready to start right away -- I'll say it again, I don't want a true freshman as the starting QB to open a season; give him some time to learn -- so the Lions will either have to go with Veilleux or bring in someone from the transfer portal.

The case for starting Veilleux next week would be so that the coaches could find out a whole lot more about what they really have in him to help them make a better decision about what to do in the portal for next season. If Veilleux were to play great against Sparty and lead Penn State to a big road win, hey, it could go a long way toward him being confident and prepared to be the starter next year.

All of that should make sense, right?

Regardless, Clifford is a three-year starter. He's done some good things in his career, and Michigan State's pass defense is terrible. If he's healthy, he deserves to finish his career as the starter because he still gives the team its best chance to win.

To move on from Clifford just to try out a younger quarterback would, at this stage, be a bogus move by the coaching staff. That Michigan State game is still really big, as it's the difference between 8-4 and 7-5 and the difference between a good bowl game and a lesser one.

So clearly, Clifford should start against the Spartans.

But it would not be a bad idea to give Veilleux a couple series in that game to see what he can do, try to make some plays and let him continue to build confidence. He could end up being a huge part of the future at Penn State, so it would make sense to find out a little bit more about his potential.

3. From 14 to 9 -- again

Surely it wasn't lost on diehard Penn State fans. Clifford wears No. 14, and when he exited the game, he was replaced by No. 9 Veilleux.

It brought back memories of when No 14 Christian Hackenberg got injured and was replaced by No. 9 Trace McSorley in the TaxSlayer Bowl on Jan. 2, 2016. That injury came in what turned out to be the final game of Hackenberg's college career, as he declared for the NFL draft, and McSorley began his historic run as Penn State's starting quarterback.

This transition won't be quite so dramatic, because Clifford still has at least two games left in his college career. But if No. 14 decides to turn pro after this season, No. 9 could be in position to take over as the starting QB next season.

Isn't it ironic, don't you think? (How about a little break with Alanis?)

4. Tengwall makes debut, and O-line plays better

Prized offensive line recruit Landon Tengwall made his long-awaited college debut Saturday, going in first at right guard and then moving to left guard. Tengwall had already been discussed as making great progress in his freshman season, and with the flu hitting the team hard, this game provided him and others a chance to get playing time.

Bryce Effner got the start at left tackle in place of Rasheed Walker, and when right tackle Caedan Wallace went out, Effner moved to the right side and Tengwall went in on the left. There was a lot of movement on the O-line, with center Juice Scruggs getting banged up and missing some time, and others shuffling in and out.

Whatever it was, the shuffling of all those linemen helped Penn State rush for a season-high 149 yards, and the line allowed just one sack.

Veilleux had 36 yards rushing, while Keyvone Lee led the way with 41. Noah Cain looked much better and had more burst as he gained 29 yards on seven carries.

5. Man, Rutgers' offense is absolutely awful

For the first time in program history, Penn State's defense has pitched two shutouts against Big Ten teams in the same season. That's quite an accomplishment, and congratulations to that group, which has been really good all season.

But let's face it: Rutgers looked atrocious on offense.

Chalk it up to a combination of good defense by the Lions and some really inept offensive play from the Scarlet Knights.

We knew Rutgers couldn't throw the ball well, and sure enough, they didn't. Noah Vedral was 12-of-21 for 91 yards, and the team finished with 93 yards passing.

Rutgers also rushed for only 72 yards and averaged just 2.3 yards per carry. It was about as bad of an offensive performance overall as we've seen from any Big Ten opponent not also named Rutgers over the years.

"Our defense is playing unbelievable," Franklin said.