UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Sean Clifford heard the boos rain down. Loudly. From seemingly tens of thousands of fans in his home stadium.
It was a classless display, in all honesty (listen to We Are podcast below for much more on why I say that). But probably not surprising, given how much the Penn State fan base has turned on the 24-year-old, sixth-year quarterback who is starting for the fourth straight season.
The fans wanted to see Clifford finally get benched in favor of freshman Drew Allar, and when that didn't happen, many let their feelings be known during pregame starting announcements Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.
Clifford didn't let the boos bother him, and then wound up hearing lots and lots of cheers as the night went on as the No. 16 Nittany Lions clobbered Minnesota, 45-17, on a whiteout night at Beaver Stadium.
It was a fantastic bounce-back performance from Penn State coming off last week's 41-17 drubbing at Michigan. And it gave the Lions a major confidence boost heading into next week's gigantic showdown with No. 2 Ohio State.
"It was a well-rounded, really well-executed game," James Franklin said.
Still, what happened before the game was pretty jarring to hear -- with this starting quarterback being booed more loudly than perhaps any Penn State player ever during the starting lineups.
Clifford threw four TDs and completed 23 of 31 passes for 295 yards in the win. And he took the high road when I asked him if he heard the boos and what his reaction was to that scene.
You can watch and listen to his reaction here:
Sean Clifford was booed before the Minnesota game. @CoryGiger asked him about it after.
— Joe Smeltzer (@joesmeltzer775) October 23, 2022
Clifford’s response was classy, and perfect. pic.twitter.com/LUm9VLqHqa
"I really just have a lot of trust and care for the people in the program and the coaches and the players," Clifford said. "So, realistically, we have a passionate fan base. I understand that. They can think what they want to think. But I'm gonna focus on what I can do on the field. I'm gonna give my heart and my soul every single time I step on that field, and nobody can take that away from me. So, I know that for a fact. But yeah, I'm just gonna focus on the program, the people on our team, and then that's about it."
A few seconds after Clifford was announced and booed, Franklin was announced. And more boos followed, about as many as for Clifford.
Franklin was asked after the game, during a question about Clifford, if he had any reaction to the way the fans reacted with the boos.
"No, I do not," the coach said. "I have no reactions to those types of things."
Franklin then gave a lengthy response supporting his veteran QB.
"As you guys know, I'm proud of Sean. And he's a battler, he's resilient and he's tough. And he played really well," Franklin said.
"I think if you look around the country, there's a lot of programs that would be super excited and happy about Sean Clifford being the quarterback and what he was able to do tonight against one of the better defenses in the country. I'm real proud of him. But I'm not going to talk or get into any of those other things. But I'm proud of Sean, and I love our whole quarterback room. I'm also glad that we were able to get Drew some experience as well tonight (in fourth-quarter mop-up duty). He's played in almost every game this year. But as you guys know, I'm a supporter of Sean Clifford."
The night started off badly for Clifford, and you have to wonder just how close the Penn State coaches might have come to making a change at quarterback. The Lions went three-and-out on their first two drives, then Clifford threw this ugly interception on the third series.
Walley World 🌎@JustinWalley_ picks it off to set up the @GopherFootball offense. pic.twitter.com/ZZU3A6aYGx
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 23, 2022
Minnesota returned that interception to the Penn State 14, but the Lions' defense held and forced a field goal, going down only 3-0.
Had Clifford struggled for one or two more series, it's certainly very conceivable that Franklin might have given Allar a shot. But that didn't happen.
Clifford regrouped from the interception and played great the rest of the game. He led a drive that resulted in a tying field goal, then led two TD drives that gave Penn State a 17-3 lead. The quarterback then led three more touchdown drives during a fantastic third quarter that saw Penn State blow things open with a 38-10 lead.
And, yeah, there were no more boos the rest of the night.
Clifford, who has been in a great, smiling mood after wins all season, came into the media room after this game and was pretty brief with his first couple of answers. There were questions all week about whether he was still injured from the Michigan game and if he would start, and all of that seemed to get to him a bit.
When did he know he would play Saturday?
"The whole week," Clifford said.
Anything specific that made him think he'd be good to go?
"Practicing," he replied.
What did he think he needed to do in practice to be comfortable and ready to go?
"I've been here for a while, so just locking in on the game plan, knew I could get it done," he said.
And how was he able to overcome the early interception to have a big game?
"Had it before, done it before, seen it all, so able to put it behind me," he said.
All of that experience is what makes the Clifford vs. Allar discussion such an interesting one. For all the fans who would like to see Allar get a chance, the fact that Clifford has been around so freaking long and has proven that he can overcome a mistake in a game and still play well, all of that helps make the decision to stick with him much easier for Franklin.
And it's the kind of thing that makes Clifford so respected by his teammates.
"I think it's just his competitive mindset and just his experience," tight end Theo Johnson said. "He's been around, he's been in many different situations and environments, and his experience kind of gives him that edge and his poise. That's one of the things I respect about him the most -- he can throw an interception, but he's coming on the sideline and telling everybody, 'I got your back, we're gonna keep rolling.' So, I respect his poise and how he can bounce back from adversity."
Clifford made perhaps one of the best throws of his career on this TD to Parker Washington, who made a sensational catch. Watch how Clifford stood in there with pressure coming and still delivered a ball that gave his receiver a chance to make a play.This is the kind of play that keeps the Penn State coaches coming back to Clifford, no matter how much he struggles at times.
Haha Parker Washington! That's just down the road from my place here in WA state. #WashingtonState https://t.co/SSAdWt8inD
— Chris Hoptowit (@cmehop2it) October 23, 2022
"That was one of the better throws I've seen Sean make -- under duress, standing in there and delivering a ball like that," Franklin said.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Penn State's tight ends had a fantastic game, and credit to Clifford, Mike Yurcich and everyone for making sure to involve the very talented group in the game plan.
When the Lions were struggling on offense early, they broke out of it by, you guessed it, going to the tight ends. This 38-yard TD pass to Tyler Warren was a thing of beauty, and epitomized how wide open the tight ends were for much of the first half.
They forgot about Tyler Warren.
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 23, 2022
No. 16 @PennStateFball scores the first TD of the night. pic.twitter.com/NREf0IskWK
Johnson caught five passes for 75 yards and a TD, while Warren caught that 38-yarder and Brenton Strange one pass for 5 yards. So, that was seven catches for 118 yards and two TDs by the tight ends.
Yurcich gave a phenomenal answer during the week when asked about throwing more to the tight ends, pointing out it's not always easy to do that given the offensive scheme Penn State runs and how the tight ends have blocking responsibilities.
It appeared the Lions had made a concerted effort to get the tight ends more involved Saturday. But actually, Franklin pointed out, that wasn't exactly the case.
"There's going to be weeks, obviously based on game planning and matchups, that you may emphasize a certain position or a certain guy, but really, a lot of times it just depends on how the defense plays out where the ball goes," Franklin said. "So, it was a little bit of an emphasis, but it's not like we did anything different tonight. It's just how the game played out and how the defense reacted to our schemes. And Sean just went where the defense told us to go."
• For as much emphasis as there was during the week on who would play quarterback for Penn State, the bigger issue for this game in particular and how it would play out was always more about whether Minnesota would have its starting QB, Tanner Morgan. He took a hit to the head last week against Illinois and was questionable all week, then was ruled out prior to the game.
Without Morgan, Minnesota's offense was ... in big trouble.
The Gophers have an outstanding running back in Mohamed Ibrahim, who did all he could with 102 yards and a TD on 30 carries, but they had big problems throwing the ball. Backup QB Athan Kaliakmanis started slowly against Penn State's strong pass rush and good secondary, and Minnesota's offense just couldn't do a whole lot.
Offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, who was at Penn State in 2020, surely wanted to come in and get some kind of payback after getting fired by Franklin. But Ciarrocca never stood a chance in that regard without Morgan, a sixth-year college quarterback.
Kaliakmanis finished 9-of-22 for 175 yards with one TD and one interception. He made a few decent throws, just not enough to sustain the offense all night.
• Surprisingly, Minnesota's offense put together an outstanding drive late in the first half that resulted in a touchdown that made it 17-10. Kaliakmanis completed a big 33-yard pass to Le'Meke Brockington that jumpstarted the drive.
The significance of that TD late in the half was that Minnesota also was going to get the ball to start the second half, so the Gophers were right there in the game. But Penn State's defense stopped the visitors on that drive to open the second half, and at that point, Minnesota's hopes of trying to come back seemed to disappear.
Penn State got the ball back and scored a touchdown in just 66 seconds, then got an interception by Ji'Ayir Brown that led to another touchdown and 31-10 lead. That was pretty much game over already, but Penn State hammered it home with two more TDs.
• Nicholas Singleton had a nice game for the Lions, rushing for 79 yards and two TDs on 13 carries. He scored on runs of 16 and 30 yards.
Kaytron Allen added 77 yards on 15 carries, and Penn State finished with 175 yards rushing on 34 carries.
• Penn State's defense had a very good night, which was to be expected with Morgan missing the game for Minnesota. The Gophers did have 340 yards and 16 first downs, but most of that came on a couple of long drives, and most of their other possessions resulted in little.
It was a good showing from the defense after getting torched by Michigan for 418 yards rushing last week, although Minnesota did have 165 in this one despite being one dimensional.
"(Ibrahim) is a great back," Brown said. "Trying to keep them east and west and not that home run north and south. He's a great runner. We know if we stopped that run game they would start to pass more. They would have to go up against our strength.
"We trusted each other," Brown added about the defensive success. "We filled in gaps. We followed (defensive coordinator) Manny (Diaz)'s plan."
• Freshman Abdul Carter got his first career start at linebacker and finished with eight tackles. Linebacker Curtis Jacobs had 14 tackles, two for losses.
• It was a great night all around for Penn State with the whiteout. The loud, electric atmosphere forced five false start penalties by the Gophers in the first half, and the big crowd was treated to a show with the blowout. All of that also happened in front of about 100 recruits who were on hand.
The whiteout game is always significant for Penn State, not just for one outcome, but because it can always be such a massive recruiting tool for the program.
"It was a good win, a great environment," Franklin said. "There's a ton of recruits there that are going to have a huge impact on our future. If you look at our roster and talk to players, which I know you guys have, how many of them have been at whiteout and said, 'I want to play in that type of environment.'
"So yeah, it helps from from a bunch of different perspectives."
• Penn State honored the legendary 2012 team during a break between the first and second quarters. The recognition began with the video board showing part of the memorable press conference held by the players after the sanctions, with Michael Zordich and Michael Mauti showing tremendous leadership. Then the players were celebrated on the field.

Mark Selders / Penn State Athletics
Members of the 2012 Penn State team.
VERY SAD NEWS
Former Penn State linebacker Bani Gbadyu died Saturday at age 34 after recently being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Gbadyu leaves behind his wife, Molly, and three young children.
Gbadyu played at Penn State from 2007-10, recording 118 tackles and seven for losses during his career.
It’s with great sadness that we announce that Coach Bani Gbadyu lost his fight with pancreatic cancer. The Lebanon Football Family sends their condolences to his wife, Molly, and three children. pic.twitter.com/USlk1fY7xn
— Cedar Football (@CedarsFootball) October 22, 2022
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics
THE INJURY REPORT
LG Landon Tengwall did not play for the second straight game. He suffered an undisclosed injury during the pregame warmups last week at Michigan.
DE Chop Robinson was in street clothes and did not play.
LB Jonathan Sutherland was shaken up in the second quarter but did return.
RT Caedan Wallace got banged up early in the third quarter and did return in the fourth.
THE SCHEDULE
Penn State hosts Ohio State next week in a noon kickoff at Beaver Stadium. FOX's "Big Noon Kickoff" show will be at Penn State for the first time.
THE CONTENT
Visit our Penn State team page for everything.