Penn State continues to show it's better than many people think

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- With all due respect to Nicholas Singleton and Penn State's defense -- which combined for a whole bunch of highlights in a thrashing of Maryland -- James Franklin stole the show.

With this:

I mean, what coach does push-ups, on the sideline, during the game?

The comical scene played out during the Nittany Lions' 30-0 trouncing of the Terps on a rainy day at Beaver Stadium. There's probably no way many of the 108,796 fans in the stands knew anything about the push-ups -- wi-fi and cell service are bad inside the stadium, so they couldn't see the highlights -- but fortunately the TV cameras were all over it.

"I did 15 push-ups because everybody is held accountable around here," Franklin said. "I had my first unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in 12 years as a head coach, and I was embarrassed by it. So, I did my push-ups, everybody's held accountable. I think they thought I was yelling at the officials, and I wasn't. I was yelling at our players. But either way, I got unsportsmanlike conduct, first one in 12 years."

The funny push-ups video aside ...

The No. 14 Lions improved to 8-2. Yes, they did lose their two biggest games of the season to Ohio State and Michigan, and because of that, it produced a level of frustration within the fan base. The main beef is that the Lions beat the teams they're supposed to beat, but have just been unable to knock off the opponents that matter most.

But here's something else this team has done of late: The Lions have crushed overmatched opponents instead of messing around in close games. There's value in that, no doubt, because it's the sign of a focused team that understands how to give its best effort week in and week out.

It's become pretty clear at this point that this Penn State team is a whole lot better than many people -- fans and media alike -- have given it credit for throughout the season.

Consider:

• Following the 41-17 blowout loss at Michigan, the Lions responded by destroying Minnesota, 45-17.

• Penn State led Ohio State and was the better team for the first 51 minutes of the game. Yes, the Lions fell apart after that in a 44-31 loss, but we just cannot forget about those first 51 minutes, either.

• Bouncing back from that disappointing loss, which Sean Clifford said the team was "pissed" about," the Lions went out to Indiana and dominated the Hoosiers, 45-14.

• Then Saturday, Penn State pummeled a Maryland team that was believed to be pretty decent, and pitched a shutout with a phenomenal defensive effort despite playing without injured starters Joey Porter Jr. and Curtis Jacobs.

Early in the second quarter, Maryland had minus-14 yards of total offense. The Lions' defense set the tone early and kept it up all day, holding the Terps to only 134 yards of total offense. That's a Maryland offense that came in ranked fourth in the Big Ten in total offense.

"The feeling of not giving up a single point in a game is always, like, man, that's great," cornerback Kalen King said. "That's definitely a feeling that you remember for a long time."

The final stats once again show just how dominant Penn State played.

Final stats: pic.twitter.com/P1Vr598dhi

— Cory Giger (@CoryGiger) November 12, 2022

MORE FROM THE GAME

• Clifford made history as he broke the Penn State career passing yardage record and became just the seventh Big Ten quarterback to reach 10,000 yards. Here are the conference's career rankings:

1. Drew Brees, Purdue -- 11,792
2. Curtis Painter, Purdue -- 11,163
3. Adam Weber, Minnesota -- 10,917
4. Clayton Thorson, Northwestern -- 10,731
5. Brett Basanez, Northwestern -- 10,589
6. Chuck Long, Iowa -- 10,461
7. Sean Clifford, Penn State -- 10,023

Clifford broke Trace McSorley's Penn State record, as McSorley threw for 9,899 yards during his career. McSorley congratulated Clifford on Twitter:

Clifford, of course, is in his fourth year as the starter and sixth year in college. The career record is certainly an achievement, but all in all, many Penn State fans will probably take the record with a grain of salt simply because the quarterback set the mark by sticking around so long.

Regardless, Sean Clifford's name probably is going to be atop the school's record book for a long, long time.

"It's cool. It definitely is cool," Clifford said. "I will not say it's not. I mean, it's a lot of hard work with a lot of guys, and I think that that's the cool part about it, honestly. It's not about the records, not about the yards. It's about the journey, and it's about the the guys that I've come in contact with."

"When I was told about it at the end of the game ...  it was more so just thinking back to all the teams that I've been on and and just appreciating the moment and appreciating everybody that has had my back."

Clifford has been heavily criticized for much of his career, but Franklin and his teammates certainly value him.

"People can undervalue him," tight end Brenton Strange said. "He's a great quarterback and great leader for our team."

"I think you guys know the amount of respect I have for Sean," Franklin said. "He's been here a long time, he's done it the right way, he's represented the program with class."

Clifford did not have a great performance on his record-setting day, completing 12 of 23 passes for 139 yards and one TD.

• The Lions' offense didn't need Clifford to do much because the running game was so good.

Penn State finished with 249 yards rushing, with Nicholas Singleton going for 122 yards and two TDs on only 11 carries, while Kaytron Allen had 73 yards on 16 carries.

Penn State twice went for it on fourth-and-1 in the first half, and both times Singleton found a hole to the right and took it to the house.

Here's the first one:

Nicholas Singleton 45 yards to the house!!! Look at the formation! #PennState pic.twitter.com/AHPdiU8hj1

— 𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗟𝗢𝗪 @𝗙𝗧𝗕𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱𝟳 (@FTBeard7) November 12, 2022

And here's the second, with Singleton dragging the defender the final 10 yards:

Singleton's two TDs give him 10 for the season, setting a new Penn State freshman record. He and Allen came into the day with eight apiece to tie for the record.

Singleton gives the Lions that home run threat, someone who can take it to the house from anywhere on the field. He did it early in the season, then was bottled up the past month or so, before breaking loose with the two long fourth-down runs Saturday.

The two plays looked the same, and when I asked Clifford if they were the same playcall, he just coyly replied, "I don't know."

Regardless, having the home run threat such as Singleton is a big weapon for this offense.

"Whenever you have people, whether it's at wideout or running back or tight end or whatever it is on the offensive side of the ball, that scares people," Franklin said. "It impacts the defense and impacts the defensive coordinator, because they know if you make a mistake, it could go it could go for 50 and go for 60 at any at any point. That has really helped our offense this year."

"And I just think we have really done a good job of committing to the short-yardage situations and getting better at it at. That's something we hadn't really done here recently, so that's been a real positive for us this year. I love the package that we're running. It really puts the defense in a tough spot because we can do a lot of things out of that formation. And defensively, just you can't be everywhere at once. When you got a veteran quarterback that can sit in there and get us in the right call, that helps, too."

• Penn State's defense played a fantastic game. The Terps have a solid offense and quarterback in Taulia Tagovailoa, and that unit did nothing against Manny Diaz's defense.

The Lions gave up only 11 first downs and had nine tackles for loss, one week after setting a program record with 16 in a blowout of Indiana.

Chop Robinson had a big day against his former team, as the Maryland transfer finished with two sacks, while Abdul Carter had a sack, forced fumble, quarterback hurry and seven tackles.

• Once again, Franklin reminded us that there is no reason to believe Drew Allar will get any kind of experience in meaningful situations. The freshman quarterback did play, but not until late in the third quarter when it was already 30-0. Allar got a few series and completed 3 of 6 passes for 18 yards, plus he had a nice 12-yard scramble.

There were ample opportunities to get Allar some experience with the game still closer -- and Penn State's defense had complete control of the game -- but Franklin stuck with Clifford for a long time. And the coach made it clear he will keep sticking with Clifford for a long time in games, rather than working in Allar more often.

"I think early in the season a couple games, we had a plan to try to get Drew in at a certain series, but we're way past that now," Franklin said. "It just gets to the point where it's how soon can we get him in the game, where we feel like the lead is enough that we're comfortable with doing it."

There's no ambiguity there. Getting Allar a series or two in the first half just is not part of the equation, no matter how much fans may want to see it.

Franklin did bring up another good point about when to play Allar.

"The other challenge, though, is when we get Drew in the game, we got a bunch of other guys that we need to get out of the game, and then there's a fine line because I want Drew in there with the starters," the coach said. "But then there's also the fine line, our depth is depleted on the offensive line, and we need to get those guys off the field (and) can't afford to have them late in the game."

• Speaking of the offensive line, those guys up front continue to play well. The Lions not only rushed for 249 yards, they also didn't give up a sack for the fourth time in a game this year.

All of that was while playing a true freshman, Drew Shelton, at left tackle in place of Olu Fashanu, and Hunter Nourzad at left guard in place of Landon Tengwall.

"I can't give enough credit to the guys up front," Clifford said. "I know it's cliche to say -- every quarterback says it -- but really, especially this year. (The line has) been banged up, you don't hear a peep from anybody. ... Really cannot say enough about the guys up front. Love those guys."

• Jake Pinegar has turned his season around and come through with some really good kicks the past few weeks. He made a 50-yard field goal, tying his career long, plus a 46-yarder and 21-yarder.

"I'm so happy for him," Franklin said. "Playing his tail off. Talk about a guy who was the starter, lost his starting job, stuck it out, stayed here, became the starter again and is playing really well right now."

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics

THE INJURY REPORT

The Lions were without several key injured players, most notably potential first-round draft picks CB Joey Porter Jr. and LT Olu Fashanu. Also out: LB Curtis Jacobs, RB Keyvone Lee and LG Landon Tengwall, who is out for the season.

"Joey Porter was not available tonight, and that was a non-football injury situation that we were working through," Franklin said. "So, I just want to be very, very clear with that, so everybody knows. And hopefully we'll have Joey next week."

THE SCHEDULE

Penn State travels to Rutgers next week. Kickoff time and TV have not yet been announced.

THE CONTENT

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