We will NEVER see Clifford lose against Michigan or Ohio State again! That ship has now sailed! He has never won a game against a ranked top 10 team in all of the years that he has played at Penn State.....and he had the chance. HOWEVER, Allar is NOT the answer the rest of this season, it is still Clifford. This team needs to run the table and get to a NY6 bowl game.....and they will if they can win out. I realize that Clifford has made some costly mistakes, but right now, he can read defenses and understands the schemes way better than Allar can and he is the ONLY chance we have at getting to 10-2.
Coming off an emotional loss today and then heading to Indiana next week could be a trap game. Penn State needs to shake this loss and get in and out of Indiana with a win, get back home and take care of Maryland. This is NOT a lost season even though we have witnessed another "same old same old" result with Ohio State and Michigan. Finishing 10-2 with a NY6 bowl game will be a step in the right direction and a great foundation heading into next year.
GO STATE!!!!!
I’m having a hard time believing we win out and our history under JF tells us we won’t. So at what point do we sit Cliff and move on to Allar?
The receivers made a lot of great plays during the game against Ohio State. Clifford made numerous poor decisions - bench Clifford and work on the future.
Yesterdays game would have never been as close as it was had Allar been the QB. They would have eaten him alive!! I am not a Cliff a fan at all, I am glad this is his final season, but I am also smart enough to know that he is the best chance at running the table.
Penn State needs to win out, go 11-2 and THAT is how you prepare for the future.
If we don't win out, I don't think it will be Cliff's fault. Hopefully, with the teams we have left, we can build an early lead and get Allar & V more playing time. I'd really like to see how they compare to each other in meaningful snaps, not practice. It would be nice to see Pribula get some pt too. If Cliff does struggle in any of the upcoming games based on his play, not other reasons, don't be afraid to yank him.
Yesterdays game would have never been as close as it was had Allar been the QB. They would have eaten him alive!! I am not a Cliff a fan at all, I am glad this is his final season, but I am also smart enough to know that he is the best chance at running the table.
Penn State needs to win out, go 11-2 and THAT is how you prepare for the future.
Based on what? There isn’t enough film of Allar for anyone to say Cliff is better. Is your point that Allar will turn the ball over?
My point is, he is an 18 year old kid with limited experience at this level....other than practices and few game time minutes here and there. Cliff can read the field, knows the different defensive schemes and he can (could) scramble. Allar is not ready to be a starting QB at Penn State and this is just my opinion. Yesterdays loss was not coaching, they had a good game plan. The issue was Clifford (and not solely)....but he did not execute once again. Clifford does well against teams of his caliber, but lets face it, his record against top 10 teams tells the rest of his story. However, he still has the best experience that Penn State needs to get through the rest of this season.
Allar is going to be a good QB. He needs more game time experience and unfortunately Penn State has not been able to provide this to him. Clifford struggled against Mich and Ohio State, but now that THOSE two games are out of the way, Clifford should be able to calm down and play with more confidence and win out. I am hoping with the remaining schedule, Allar be able to get on the field for some meaningful playing time and gain some more experience.
I think it is really important that this Penn State team finds a way to make it to a NY6 bowl for various reasons and hopefully one more shot at top 10 team or at least against somebody meaningful. Benching Clifford to get Allar more experience isn't the answer. Working him in more is and that means taking care of these upcoming unranked teams early!
GO STATE
@mtnittanylion I sat through the NW game and watched Cliff make throws off his back foot into double coverage while two other receivers ran wide open in the middle of the field so don’t waste my time with he can read this or that. Also,OSU scored 24 points off of Clifford turnovers yesterday so why pretend he was an asset in a game we lost by 11? No one knows if Allar is better but I’m sick of hearing the man at the top say Clifford deserves to start.
Deserves to start why?
I think you think I am arguing with you and I am not! I agree 100% with you that Clifford misses a lot of opportunities on any given Saturday. However, if you think some 18 year old kid fresh out of 12th grade is going to come in against Ohio State or Michigan this year and do better than Clifford did, ain't going to happen. I watched Allar and he is not aware of his surroundings and he too missed guys that were wide open.
Clifford makes bad passes, too many for a QB with his experience. He has never really stepped up as a leader for this offense. But what he does have is knowledge and experience against some very good teams. And even though he failed to execute yesterday and more so against Michigan, he still knows what is going on out there and you have to play him.
I wish Penn State would have kicked the FG vs going for it on 4th down. I think that would have changed the dynamics of that game. But then again, playing the #2 team in the country, I think you have to take some chances and that is one I don't fault the coaches for. They had Ohio State 3rd and 10 with 5 mins to go and where only down 6. The defense didn't execute very well, played too soft in the zone defense and they didn't do that for most of the game when playing the zone....which was working well for them. I am not saying they would have marched down the field and scored, but they did against Purdue, so they were already in that position once before. There is NO WAY Allar would have been the guy to make that final drive if the opportunity was there. He just doesn't have that type of experience.....YET.
Right now, running the table and making a NY6 bowl game is very important to this program. They need to end on a winning note and Allar is not the guy going to get it done. Indiana could be a tricky game on the road with such an emotional loss vs Ohio State yesterday. I don't know the situation with Maryland's QB, but if he is available, that is another tricky game....although we tend to play better at home. We know what we have with Clifford if he plays well and we know what we have when he doesn't. We don't know what we have with Allar (at this point), so I think you have to stay with Clifford and hope he is on. Clifford is not a bad QB, he just isn't a Stroud or Young but he has experience and that trumps an 18 year old kid fresh out of HS.....if you want to run the table! IMO.
GO STATE!!
@mtnittanylion Allar has 31 pass attempts in mop up time so it’s not surprising that he may have missed open receivers that he’s probably not even getting reps with at practice. Clifford is a 6th year senior that has been getting reps with the 1st team offense for the past 5 years.
That is why, at this point, you go with Cliff over Allar.
Agreed, Southern. It all starts at Indiana this week. Hope the boys bounce back and roll them. I'm a little concerned with Cliff though. I hope he can shake off his 4 turnover performance. Post game articles indicate that he really took it hard. If he comes out in a funk, I wouldn't hesitate to pull him. I don't know if Allar is necessarily the answer at this point. I still think he's too young & inexperienced at this stage. I'd really like to see CV have a shot if Cliff ain't gettin er done.
I agree with Joe. Sure, we dont know what Allar can do but we've all seen what Clifford can do and enough is enough. How will playing Allar hurt recruiting anymore than losing to OSU and Mich already has?? Once again we've managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. On the bright side of things, arent ya glad you're not a Pitt fan??
@rip I agree, I believe Clifford will be ok, Indiana defense ain’t as good as Ohio St and Michigan. Bottom line is we’re a good football team just ain’t top 5 but after the top 5 we would beat the rest. Looking at the top 25 we deserve that 7th spot just as much as any other team. Penn St should be ranked 7th and people will see I’m right when the season is finished. I honestly don’t think Clemson, TCU could beat us or USC. I think we’re pretty dang good just not top 5.
I'd rather not throw in Allar as some sort of "prepare for next year" type stunt. At this point, Clifford is a captain and his only 2 losses are to #2 and #4. No one we play from here on out is someone we should not beat, so throwing Allar in there now makes little sense to me. The "experence" thing is a red herring to me, there are plenty of QBs who come in and light it up with no experience whatsoever after sitting for 1-2 years. I'm not a huge fan of bringing in Allar now, if they didn't think he was ready at the beginning of the year.
Just let him continue to study the offense, hit the weight room, and get his HS body into shape so he is fully prepared mentally and physically when next year comes around. Maybe... MAYBE if we had a big game coming up... but the best team we play here on out is Maryland. Clifford will be fine.
Allar will be set up to have a lot of sucess next year. I believe if Juice Scruggs wants to return, he can due to a COVID year. So it's possible the same line (that's gotten better this year) will be back with just about every weapon returning as well.
Just my opinion
I agree with Joe. Sure, we dont know what Allar can do but we've all seen what Clifford can do and enough is enough. How will playing Allar hurt recruiting anymore than losing to OSU and Mich already has?? Once again we've managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. On the bright side of things, arent ya glad you're not a Pitt fan??
Yea it’s funny that these guys are worried that Allar might come in and turn the ball over when we have the 6th year big game turnover king starting for us already. OSU scored 24 points off of Clifford turnovers and it’s not going to get any worse than that.
The OL has got much better but putting a true freshman Pro style QB in there ain’t something I would do. His time is next year homer, he will probably be the man assuming he beats CV out. As of today I don’t know who’s better between the two just let the best man play.
I would have Clifford start the remaining games but would give DA & CV both a few series each game with the first unit. Who cares if it results in another loss or two. Recruits already see what happens against Mich and OSU, so wins against MSU and Rutgers are not going to make any difference. Does a New Years bowl mean that much?
I agree with Joe. Sure, we dont know what Allar can do but we've all seen what Clifford can do and enough is enough. How will playing Allar hurt recruiting anymore than losing to OSU and Mich already has?? Once again we've managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. On the bright side of things, arent ya glad you're not a Pitt fan??
Yea it’s funny that these guys are worried that Allar might come in and turn the ball over when we have the 6th year big game turnover king starting for us already. OSU scored 24 points off of Clifford turnovers and it’s not going to get any worse than that.
I'm not worried about him turning the ball over, I just don't want to ruin him by putting him in too soon if he's not ready. He may be ready, I don't know... I just don't see an upside this late in the season for Allar. IMO I'd rather him sit and continue to learn and work towards starting next season.
I believe a full year of not starting will do him good, rather than playing in the last few games the we should win anyway.
@roaminglion I for one, don't want him to get Hackenberged! I think we'll be seeing him get playing time during the rest of the season. Has Clifford made it through a whole season w/o getting hurt?
Only the team and coaches know how Allar is practicing. Well, them and Niccy's insider, heard it through the grapevine, friends.
