Watching Penn State and Clifford is like that definition of insanity thing

ALTOONA, Pa. -- The definition of insanity actually is NOT doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The real definition, from Merriam-Webster, is: "A severely disordered state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder."

Regardless, our society has pretty much accepted the other definition of insanity, in large part because it seems to fit so many examples in real life.

Take, for instance, this Penn State football season, which ended Saturday with a 24-10 loss to No. 21 Arkansas in the Outback Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

We kept watching the same things over and over and over with this Penn State team, yet many still kept expecting -- and hoping beyond hope -- that there somehow could be different results.

Such as, maybe Sean Clifford could actually morph into a really good college quarterback.

Or that the Nittany Lions suddenly would be able to run the ball.

Or that Mike Yurcich could call a good game offensively.

Or that James Franklin would be a good gameday coach.

In reality, it probably was the definition of insanity to expect different results in all of those areas from this team. Because after 13 games, to quote the famous Dennis Green line, we now can unequivocally say, "They are what we thought they were."

* Clifford is an average -- at best -- college quarterback who still makes too many mistakes.

* The running game is probably the worst in Penn State history.

* Yurcich often seems incompetent as a play caller in this unbelievably disappointing offense.

* Franklin will get outcoached just about any time he goes up against another quality head coach.

Here are my 10 takeaways from the loss.

1. This was a collapse of epic proportions

Penn State started 5-0 and reached No. 4 in the country, then lost six of its last eight games to finish 7-6.

That.

Is.

Pathetic.

Now look, I did not expect the Lions to win this game, not being short-handed with five defensive starters and elite wide receiver Jahan Dotson opting out. But after an uneven first half, Penn State had a 10-7 lead and all the momentum, entering the second half with a legit chance to steal this bowl game and actually feel good about the way the season ended.

But it was fitting, in all honesty, that the Lions fell apart like they did in the second half. The same issues that have been existent all season showed up again in the second half, turning a winnable game into yet another frustrating loss.

2. The defense played well enough for the team to win

Major props to Penn State's revamped defense, led by a bunch of backups. The Lions really had no business doing well against a good Arkansas offense playing without DE Arnold Ebiketie, DT Derrick Tangelo, LBs Brandon Smith and Ellis Brooks and S Jaquan Brisker. Those guys are NFL-caliber players, and having to replace all of them was always going to be an incredible challenge. A sixth starter, CB Tariq Castro-Fields, wound up not playing for undisclosed reasons.

But lo and behold, the defense did a really nice job in the first half, holding the Hogs to seven points. And even those seven points were controversial, as the Razorbacks converted a fourth down on a play where they should have been flagged for a false start. Arkansas scored on the next play, making it 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, when it really should have been 3-0 if the penalty had been called.

Penn State shut down the Hogs in the second quarter, and the Lions took a 10-7 lead into the half.

This might be the stat of the season: defensive end Smith Vilbert had only three tackles all season, then had three sacks in the first half. That's unbelievable.

Also, Ji'Ayir Brown had two interceptions.

Arkansas was playing without standout receiver Treylon Burks, who led the team with 66 catches. No one else on the team had more than 21 catches. The Hogs clearly had issues throwing the ball, and Penn State's defense was holding its own.

The Razorbacks made the big adjustment in the second half to abandon the pass and ramp up the run, in particular having 245-pound quarterback KJ Jefferson take off on designed runs. Jefferson had 104 yards rushing in the third quarter alone, and the Hogs had two TD drives that did not include a single pass.

Clearly, Penn State's defense wasn't up to the task of stopping the good running team in the second half, and the Hogs rode their ground success to victory, finishing with 353 yards rushing.

But Arkansas only scored 24 points, and in a bowl game, that's a strong enough showing by a defense to give the team a good chance to win.

Defensive coordinator Brent Pry left to become Virginia Tech's head coach, so that coupled with all the defensive opt outs created a major obstacle for Penn State. But co-defensive coordinator Anthony Poindexter did a nice job with his unit in this game, and everyone on that side of the ball deserves credit for playing over their heads.

It's just too bad that ...

3. Penn State's offense was an embarrassment

Let's quote Bob Uecker in "Major League" when he said, "One hit? One GD hit!"

For Penn State in this game it should be: One play? One GD play!

Because that was it, really.

Clifford hit KeAndre Lambert-Smith on a 42-yard TD pass in the second quarter for Penn State's only touchdown. The receiver was wide open by 20 yards in all directions, as the Arkansas defense had busted coverage and forgot about him, and Clifford put the ball on the money for once on this day.

Aside from that play, Penn State's offense had a lot of trouble. The Lions moved the ball at times, thanks to some good scrambles by Clifford, and Parker Washington made a spectacular one-handed catch. But in terms of designed plays, there just wasn't much there that could consistently move the ball and keep the offense on the field.

Penn State did finish with 323 yards and 17 first downs, but boy were those hollow numbers because they led to only 10 points.

The bottom line is most people gave Penn State little chance to win the game because of all the players it was missing on defense. But the offense is what lost this game. Sure, the Lions had to play without Dotson, but they had enough other starters playing to believe they should have put up far more than 10 points.

And to not get shut out in the second half.

I tweeted this early in the game, and it wound up really being the case for the entire day.

4. Yurcich had a terrible day

I honestly don't know what to say anymore about the offensive coordinator. Some of his play calls are just downright atrocious.

I'm already on record saying I believe Yurcich deserved to be fired because of Penn State's terrible offensive play this season. If he were just about anyone else, he perhaps would have been fired. But Yurcich is the link to star QB recruit Drew Allar, so there's just no way Franklin could let the OC go and risk losing the nation's No. 1 quarterback.

But what the hell was Yurcich doing Saturday?

On not one, but two occasions, he had Clifford run an option play.

WHAT????

The second such option play went to the short side of the field, and Clifford got lit up by a defender.

You could take the absolute worst offensive coordinator in the country and even he could see that was a horrendous and unnecessarily dangerous call.

For the second game in a row, Yurcich totally blew it with the run-pass balance calling plays.

At Michigan State, facing a horrendous pass defense, Yurcich inexplicably kept calling running plays.

In this game, Penn State actually -- MIRACULOUSLY -- was running the ball pretty well with running backs early on, but Yurcich abanonded that.

Clifford was good taking off on QB scrambles, finishing with 45 yards on 12 carries. But Keyvone Lee only had four carries and Noah Cain five carries on the day. That's despite Lee busting loose for one 25-yard run and Cain for a 16-yard run.

Yurcich's feel for when to call passing or running plays seems to be pretty awful. It's just so hard to imagine that would be the case given his track record coming into the year, but man, it's mind boggling to see what he calls at times.

5. The Clifford problem

I don't like sitting here and bashing a college kid who is working his a** off and, by all accounts, does everything the right way -- from being a great teammate to leadership to loyalty and everything else.

But the bottom line is that Sean Clifford is not very good.

I cannot for the life of me understand how Clifford has basically been given a lifetime deal to be Penn State's starting quarterback. He is so unbelievably average, yet when he comes back next year as a 24-year-old, he will be a fourth-year starting quarterback and a four-time team captain.

What am I missing here?

Can anyone explain this?

How a guy who statistically is nothing more than the 40th or 50th best quarterback in college football and who has gone 11-10 as the starting quarterback over the past two years is basically guaranteed the job no matter what he does.

I've already written that Penn State and Clifford should part ways after this season, and that the Lions should go find a one-year guy in the transfer portal. But that's obviously not going to happen now with Clifford returning, so we're all just going to have to get used to him being the starting quarterback for another year.

Sigh.

OK, so fine, he will serve as a good mentor next year to Allar. Is that really enough of a reason for James Franklin to hold the entire program hostage for another year instead of going out and trying to find the absolute best quarterback he can find for next year?

Whatever. I'm just tired of pointing out something that is so obvious to most people who follow Penn State, yet doesn't seem to matter at all to the people running the program.

If Franklin wants to keep running Clifford out there regardless, then Penn State deserves whatever mediocrity that comes its way.

6. Clifford's career in a nutshell

This game certainly was that.

He started the game off with several high throws that were incomplete, then got saved on a spectacular one-handed grab by Washington.

Clifford hit Lambert-Smith on the wide-open deep ball for a score. But he later overthrew a wide-open Theo Johnson on what would have been a touchdown for a 17-7 lead. That missed throw turned out to be very big.

But the sequence of events in the fourth quarter, with the Lions trailing, 24-10, really took the cake.

Clifford took off for a couple of runs that helped Penn State move into scoring position. As I've always said, Clifford is a better runner than many of us ever would have thought -- except on stupid option plays -- and his scrambling ability has always been a big plus.

But then came the interception. On one of the worst throws of Clifford's career.

It was the kind of decision and throw that could only make a fan pound their head into the wall and yell in frustration, "What are you doing!!!!!!"

Penn State had first-and-goal at the 10, then Clifford did this.

Good lord that is awful.

It's first down, for crying out loud. First down. No need at all to force anything there, not with the game still on the line.

Tight end Theo Johnson is not open. Not by a long shot, with two defenders there.

Clifford not only made a terrible decision to throw the ball at all, he then made a terrible throw that's way, way too short and goes right to the defender.

Look, it's one play. That play did not lose the game by itself. But it was the kind of play that only reinforces the notion that has become way too obvious to so many Penn State fans.

Sean Clifford is just not very good.

Clifford was pulled from the game early in the fourth quarter and went to the locker room. Franklin said afterward it was a medical decision, with no further details. Christian Veilleux finished up at QB for Penn State.

Clifford's final stat line: 14-for-32, 195 yards, one TD, two interceptions.

7. LB Jesse Luketa declares for NFL draft

Luketa, who played well, made his announcement on Twitter after the game.

8. 10 more years with Franklin

James Franklin is now 11-11 over the past two seasons.

But he just signed a new 10-year contract worth $85 million.

Pardon me for continuing to ask why.

I actually would like to see Franklin take a big step next season and turn Penn State back into a strong program. And if he does, I will give him a lot of credit for it. I swear I will.

But one thing I just don't get is how there are still so many Penn State fans and even some media members out there who will defend Franklin at every turn and even criticize those of us who actually call a spade a spade by pointing out the major issues within the Penn State program the past two years.

Last year was all about COVID, so lots of people gave Franklin a pass.

There is no pass this year. None.

I don't have anything against Franklin. I just don't believe Penn State ever should have made a 10-year commitment to him, when clearly the program currently is dealing with a lot of problems.

AD Sandy Barbour keeps saying things like "he's our guy" and that the school wanted to show Franklin that.

But why? Fair or not, sports are about what have you done for me lately. Yeah, Franklin won a Big Ten title in 2016 and was in the Cotton Bowl two years ago. He has done a lot of good. But what we've seen these last two years looks more like the potential beginning of a downfall of the program than any sort of springboard back to where things were a few years back.

Yes, recruiting went well, and there's a lot of hope with Drew Allar and Nick Singleton coming in. But Franklin has a lot of areas he must improve on as a coach in order to get this thing turned around, and there is every reason to wonder if he can in fact improve enough in order to warrant the kind of commitment Penn State made to him with that 10-year contract.

9. Just ... wow

Case in point on No. 8 above was this pathetic fake punt attempt. It's the kind of decision and play that makes you wonder just what in the world was Franklin thinking, and if he will ever become a better in-game coach.

Penn State was leading 10-7 late in the first half when it tried this fake punt, having punter Jordan Stout heave a pass to the end zone. The Lions gave the ball back to Arkansas with good field position for a chance to tie or take the lead in the closing seconds of the half, and fortunately, the Hogs threw an interception on their own silly trick play.

I actually got criticized by a few people on Twitter because "hey, bowl games are supposed to be FUN."

I guess that means some people think stupid coaching decisions are OK, as long as it's a bowl game.

I prefer to default back to thinking that a coach should actually make decisions that actually help his team win a game, rather than sabotage that effort.

10. Looking ahead to next year

I'll have a column Sunday with an early record prediction for next season. Obviously a lot of things can change with transfers in and out or other personnel moves, but at this stage I'm going with a 7-5 record for the Nittany Lions.

I'll explain why in tomorrow's column.

PODCAST: Check out our in-depth discussion of what went wrong in the bowl game and this season.