ALTOONA, Pa. -- "It's the little things. There's nothing bigger, is there?"
There's a whole lot of truth in that line -- which is from the Tom Cruise movie "Vanilla Sky," by the way -- because so many aspects of life truly do come down to the little things.
Including, in this case, why sixth-year player Sean Clifford is still Penn State's starting quarterback instead of true freshman Drew Allar.
Offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich met with the media Thursday morning and was asked a bunch of questions about the Nittany Lions' struggling offense. He gave some good answers, particularly when it comes to tight end usage, but one topic clearly stood out.
Yurcich was asked to evaluate Clifford's play this season, and here's what he said:
"Sean has had some great moments throughout the course of the year. The one thing that sticks out most obvious to me is Purdue. He threw an interception, critical part of the game, then he comes right back and leads us down to victory in the two-minute drill. That really epitomizes Sean, his toughness, what he brings to our team. He's invaluable to everything he does, from a leadership standpoint, from a toughness standpoint."
Then Yurcich added this extremely important and telling thing:
"He does all the little things that a true freshman quarterback may overlook at times. And those are important things for the overall offense to be successful."
Now, for some context, Yurcich wasn't asked to compare Clifford to Allar there, only about evaluating Clifford. Yurcich brought up the true freshman part on his own.
It should be obvious that a 24-year-old man who's been in college football for six years would know more "little things" than a freshman who arrived on campus nine months ago. But when you hear the offensive coordinator say what Yurcich said -- "those are the most important things for the overall offense to succeed" -- it's as good of an answer as we've heard yet about why Clifford is still starting.
Whether Penn State fans want to hear it or not -- especially those calling for Allar to start -- the coaching staff still places great emphasis on all of the little things Clifford brings to the table with his vast experience.
I asked Yurcich a follow-up question a few minutes later, reading back to him his line about the "little things that a true freshman quarterback may overlook at times," and asking what are some of the little things a true freshman such as Allar has to be able to do that Clifford already does.
"I don't want to misspeak and say that (Allar is) not doing the little things, but just there's some some details that you can cover in a meeting that, when you get to the field and the bullets are flying and it's in the heat of the moment, being able to make the correct call or whatever it is from an assignment standpoint that we need," Yurcich said.
"There's also a lot of different things that can happen in a ballgame that you didn't cover. Maybe it was an adjustment by the defense or a look that you didn't see on tape that you'll have to be able to recall. And if you play college football for six years, there's going to be a different amount of recall than someone who doesn't have that experience. You can reflect back on past experiences. Maybe you had to deal with this back in 2019 -- there was an overload blitz and maybe it was the safety that was tipping it, and the call was peanut butter and jelly to get the left tackle all the way out, and that peanut butter and jelly is something that we can get to throughout the game and easily make that adjustment."
Yes, it is ironic and comical that Yurcich chose to make a peanut butter and jelly reference, a few days after someone on the Penn State side threw a PB&J sandwich at a Michigan player during a tunnel altercation.
Yurcich later added, "Those are the things that really help an experienced quarterback have that edge from a competitive standpoint. I mean, you look at all of the very successful NFL quarterbacks over the years, the most successful quarterbacks have been in a place within a system over a course of time, and a lot of that is due to their proficiency in recall. It's not new. It's been rehearsed, it's been talked about. It's kind of like, OK, I remember. And so that's part of it."
There's a lot of words there to answer the question, and maybe some fans will take it as simply word salad from Yurcich talking around things to support the decision to play Clifford.
But, if you want to take all this at face value, Yurcich explained in good detail how much experience matters for a college quarterback. And in this particular case with Clifford vs. Allar, the younger guy certainly may have the better skill set and far more potential, but the experience factor of the older guy is still leading these coaches to stick with him.
EVALUATING ALLAR
Yurcich was asked earlier on his Zoom call to discuss Allar's development, from being named second string prior to the season as a true freshman, to how confident the coaches would feel right now if he had to step in and play.
"Drew has come a long way since spring," Yurcich said.
He later added, "What we saw was the ability to stretch the field vertically, good vision in the pocket, he's a tough guy with a big body and can handle ... is very durable in there.
"You never really know, and then he gets thrown into Purdue game and then he seemed very, very comfortable in that setting. So, that gave you a little bit of confidence that he's able to handle the bright lights of that situation. So, we're excited about him, and we're excited about the entire quarterback room."
As part of answering a different question, Yurich said of Allar, "He understands how to really articulate the film, not just watching the film, but being able to peel it back and understand different coverages, be able to to articulate what plays he likes to certain formations."
Allar played the fourth quarter at Michigan and made some good throws, but he also missed on some throws that were there.
"He had some balls that he needed to throw better," Yurcich said. "He had a couple of long balls I thought that he could have put on the money and gave us a chance to be explosive there in the pass game. He knows that. He knew that coming off the field right when it happened.
"But he played tough. He's a physical guy that loves to compete, and he's fun to watch."
TIGHT END USAGE
Penn State has some excellent tight ends, led by Brenton Strange, but has not thrown the ball to those guys much lately. Not getting the tight ends involved enough was a problem last year, so Yurcich worked on it and improved earlier this year. But for the offense to reach its potential, there's no question those guys have to be targeted more.
Yurcich gave an excellent and detailed answer about the responsibilities of tights ends on certain plays, and why it can be difficult to get them involved more.
I've posted the entire answer below for those who love the details. The short answer is that on a lot of running plays, tight ends are used to block and help the offensive line, making them unavailable to catch passes. And the same is true on play-action passes, when the tight ends have to stay in close to help block.
"Yeah, we could get it to them a little bit more for sure, depending on who you're playing from week to week and how they match up," Yurcich said. "But yeah, we have a plan every week to get our tight ends touches and need to continue to build on that and make them a big part of this offense. They're a very talented group.
"The thing about tight end touches and some of the things that are challenging, just to me, to be an open book, sometimes you like to chip tight ends, especially in a dropback pass game so you can help the tackle out. Any time you're chipping a tight end, it's hard for them to be a primary receiver, so they're typically a check down in that situation. And then furthermore, if you're running play-action pass, a lot of times they're involved into the the run action, as well.
"So, to be able to hit the tight ends, a lot of times you have to dropback pass, and we're into that area where play-action pass is really important for us selling the run, and so therefore, you're a little conflicted. However, to your point, it is very important we get them the ball. But those are the things that maybe the layperson really doesn't fully understand that an offensive coordinator, yeah, we want to throw it while also help our offensive line, and yes, we also want to play-action pass. And then you have to find creative ways in order to get those tight ends freed up and make them primary receivers without risking the loss of yardage that it happens on a typical dropback pass. So, that's the channel. So, that's why I'm losing the hair, see?"