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shirt sophomore who's starting for the first time, but there have been more of the former than the latter. Through six games, the Nittany Lions were third in the Big Ten in passing offense with an average of 274.2 yards per game. KEY STAT During the first half of his first regular season as Penn State's starting QB, Clifford completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 1,560 yards and 13 touchdowns. He had thrown only two interceptions, the second-lowest total in the Big Ten. Only Ohio State's Justin Fields (one) and Wisconsin's Jack Coan (one) had thrown fewer. JAMES FRANKLIN SAYS "I just keep see- ing [Clifford] getting better, getting more confident, getting more relaxed, getting more assertive in some areas. Because of the way he approaches things, he and Will Levis are just going to continue to get better. It's going to be gradual." COMMENT Clifford lit up the majority of Penn State's opponents in the first half of the season, but passing yards were a lot harder to come by against the high-pres- sure defenses of Pitt and Iowa. Against the Panthers, he finished with only 14 completions in 30 attempts for 222 yards, and all seven of his deep shots fell incom- plete. At Iowa four weeks later, he went 12 of 24 for 117 yards, and his longest com- pletion was a 22-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Hamler. Going forward, the Lions are going to have to show they can sling the ball downfield on occasion against big- time opponents. That will take a team ef- fort, of course, starting with solid pass protection. As for Clifford himself, you have to like his trajectory – especially since he's got two more years of eligibility in which to fulfill all the promise he's shown so far. GRADE B RUNNING BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT Noah Cain was the Nittany Lions' leading rusher through six games with 310 yards on 57 carries. His six touchdowns led all Penn State ball carriers. KEY STAT Even though none of their players were ranked among the Big Ten's top 10 rushers, the Nittany Lions were averaging 191.2 yards per game on the ground through six games, fourth-best in the conference. FRANKLIN SAYS "Football has changed to where you had better have three backs. We're in a situation where we think we have four. … So we have some guys we believe in, and they're all play- ing at a high level. Coach [Ja'Juan] Sei- der has done a really good job with those guys. So we'll see, we'll continue to evaluate, and the good thing is that we have someone stepping up each week. It's not always the same guy." COMMENT He's only a true freshman, but Cain has already built quite a bit of trust with the coaching staff. When the Nittany Lions needed a first down late in the fourth quarter to finish off Iowa, they sent Cain into the game. He got that first down en route to his second consecutive 100-yard game, finishing with 102 yards on 22 carries vs. the Hawkeyes. The Nittany Lions used all four of their scholarship running backs – Cain, Journey Brown, Ricky Slade and Devyn Ford – against Iowa, so the staff is still working hard to incorporate everyone into the offense. But one can't help but think that we're beginning to see some signs of stratification in the backfield. Cain has shown that he's a guy who can move the chains. The 5- foot-10, 206-pounder spearheaded second-half scoring drives against Pitt and Purdue that revived Penn State when its offense started to bog down. Maybe he'll take on a bigger role in the weeks to come, or maybe the tailback- by-committee approach will remain in effect. Whatever the case, the Lions have been getting what they need from this position group. GRADE B RECEIVER IN THE SPOTLIGHT Hamler is well on his way to leading the team in receiving yardage for the second season in a row. Through six games, he had 455 yards and five touchdowns on 26 catches. Mean- while, Jahan Dotson has emerged as a nice complementary threat, with 14 catches for 261 yards and three TDs. KEY STAT Among Big Ten receivers with 24 or more catches through six games, Hamler's average of 17.5 yards per catch was second-best, trailing only Rashod Bateman of Minnesota (22.2). FRANKLIN SAYS "We have to get the ball in [Hamler's] hands a little bit more, and then we just have to do a really good job of managing all that, because when K.J. goes, there's no three-quarter speed with him. That's just how his personal- ity is and how he practices and how he plays. We just have to manage that so that we're getting the most explosive version of K.J. on Saturday afternoons." COMMENT Of the 17 players who had caught at least one pass through six games, all but four – Weston Carr, Dan Chisena, Nick Bowers and Isaac Lutz – have either freshman or sophomore eli- gibility. The Nittany Lions are very young at this position group, and con- sidering that their starting quarterback is also a sophomore, it can't be consid- ered a surprise that the passing game has been hot and cold. GRADE B OFFENSIVE LINE IN THE SPOTLIGHT It's hard to narrow this one down. Maybe Mike Miranda? The 6-3, 295-pound redshirt sophomore started five of the team's first six games at right guard and is listed as a backup at two additional positions (left guard, center). That's the sort of versatility that the coaching staff prizes. KEY STAT The Nittany Lions had given up 10 sacks through six games, which was tied with Michigan State for the third-lowest total in the conference. But the Lions struggled to keep Iowa's A.J. Epenesa out of the backfield, and in No- vember they'll find themselves facing the Big Ten's top pass-rusher, Ohio State's Chase Young. FRANKLIN SAYS "[Rasheed Walker] is growing up, and growing up fast. I think the fact that we haven't talked about him a whole lot is a good thing typically with the offensive linemen. We're also very happy with Des Holmes and getting him more reps in games, as well as in practice. Same thing with Will Fries. We

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