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Penn State Football: Clifford, Receivers Post Record Day in Win

Sean Clifford just laughed when asked what he saw moments before throwing what would turn out to be an 83-yard touchdown pass to receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith.

“He was open.”

And that really was the story of the day for Clifford as he tossed for 401 yards, making him just the second Penn State quarterback to throw for more than 400 yards in a single game. Prior to Saturday, only Christian Hackenberg – who in 2014 threw for 454 yards against UCF in Dublin, Ireland – had surpassed the 400-yard barrier in a Penn State uniform.

Interestingly enough, Clifford had come close to the mark before, throwing for 398 yards against Maryland in 2019, giving him two of the top four spots on Penn State’s single-game list. Behind Hackenberg came a tantalizingly close Zack Mills in 2002, who threw for 399-yards against Iowa and was long the closest to break through that 400-yard mark. Seven of top 10 single-game passing records at Penn State have now happened since 2010, making Mills still an outlier among his peers.

In reality, it was a strange performance to unpack for Clifford, who enjoyed a certain degree of simply sitting back and watching his skill players do the work. The Nittany Lions’ first snap from scrimmage was maybe Clifford’s best throw of the day, a high spiral to receiver Jahan Dotson that resulted in a 52-yard touchdown. Dotson is now just 63-yards shy of being one of 10 Penn State receivers to break the 2000-yard mark in their career.

And while it would be unfair to discredit Clifford’s effort and accuracy Saturday afternoon it was the Nittany Lion receivers who did most of the work after the catch. Parker Washington raced past Villanova defenders en route to his own 52-yard score and barely stepped out of bounds on a long catch-and-run that spanned 67 more yards of Beaver Stadium real estate.

All told Penn State managed to rack up 332-yards through the air on just seven completions, a wildly high number for a relatively modest 19-for-26 outing by Clifford.

In turn, perhaps irked by Penn State’s struggles in the run game and a general feeling Saturday that the Nittany Lions left some meat on the bone, Clifford was pleased with his numbers but perhaps not without a certain degree of frustration for what coaches and players both called a poor week of practice in the lead up to a less-than-impressive-looking eventual blowout win.

“I have to watch the tape,” Clifford added. “Like I said, it’s a 400-yard day; I’m not going to put that down. We definitely did really good in the pass game. We had a 400-yard day but I still think we should have 500. We should have broken records.”

Even with the occasional hiccup it was hard to deny the talent Penn State showcased in a receiver room that has long been seen as one of the better groups in the Big Ten, if not the nation. Dotson put together a seven catch (on seven targets) 117-yard, one-touchdown outing with the kind of effort that has become routine for him in the latter half of his collegiate career. Washington racked up a whopping 148 yards, a mark that puts him just outside the Top 20 for Penn State’s single-game record lists.

And there was Lambert-Smith, a rising talent who credits mental toughness to his gradual rise to a spot as Penn State’s No. 3 receiver even as he saw at least two drops to his name Saturday but two catches for 88-yards.

“Last year that drop, I would have been moping on the sideline,” Lamber-Smith said afterwards. “But today it’s on to the next play.”

All in all, Saturday’s game was a talent gap display. The Wildcats had no answer for Dotson or Washington, and as Clifford aptly put it after the game, the equation isn’t all that difficult.

“That’s always how football is,” Clifford said. “Scheme plus talent, equals … good job. They all want the ball, which I love. They’re not scared about getting the ball and they want the ball in their hands, which is awesome.”

At 4-0 it’s hard to argue with Penn State’s success through the air so far. Dotson in particular continues to be one of the best receivers in the nation and a fleet of options behind him have helped Clifford complete more than 71% of his passing so far this year.

As for the explosive plays, the Nittany Lions continue to prove that their ability to go over the top on defenses makes them deadly on any down. In total, Penn State recorded seven receptions of 15 or more yards and two rushes of 10 or more yards. About 14% of the Nittany Lions’ 65 offensive snaps went for chunk gains.

“We want to be 16%,” James Franklin said after the game. “So I think we can be better there but that’s obviously been a big part of our success.”