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vacant Memorial Stadium, but Clifford's performance demanded a more nuanced analysis than he initially granted him- self. Announcing that he would shoulder all of the blame for the loss, in which he threw two interceptions leading to 10 first-half Indiana points, Clifford put together a final stat line that amounted to more than a couple of picks. He com- pleted 24 of 35 pass attempts for 238 yards and three touchdowns and added another 119 yards and a score on 17 car- ries, including a clutch 35-yard scurry in the third quarter that kept the game within reach. In fact, in the second half and over- time, Clifford was the driving force be- hind the Lions' come- back. After throwing a 60-yard touchdown strike to Jahan Dotson to lift his team to a 21-20 advantage, Clifford regrouped the offense in over- time and hit Parker Washington with an on-the-run bullet for another TD on third-and-7 from the 9-yard line. Using his legs to keep the Hoosiers' defense off-balance in the second half, Clifford displayed poise under pressure. That proved to be one of the differenti- ating factors that nearly led to what would have been an improbable win. Said head coach James Franklin, "I didn't feel like we were comfortable on offense or in a rhythm in the first half, and I think a lot of that is the quarter- back; it's just the nature of offensive football. But I thought he did settle down as the game went on. I also thought when he became a more aggres- sive runner – that's a big part of Sean's game – then other things fell into place for him." Having reached a critical crossroads within the season's first week, the ques- tion is where Clifford leads the Nittany Lions from here. Coming on the heels of a late-season regression last year, one in which he was hobbled by an injury and missed the second half at Ohio State and the entire season finale against Rutgers the next week, Clifford's carelessness with the football in the Nittany Lions' 2020 sea- son opener marked a troubling relapse. After throwing just two picks in his first seven starts last season, he threw three in a loss at Minnesota, a wildly unneces- sary one in the win at Michigan State, and another against Memphis in the Cotton Bowl. While plenty of other factors will help dictate the Lions' success the rest of the way, no one should be surprised to see that their success is bound up with Clifford's. That the fourth-year quarterback seems to understand as much should offer some level of con- fidence that the lesson has al- ready been learned. "The whole game is just a lack of focus on one or two plays, es- pecially the two turnovers. I felt good. But at the same time, you can't make those errors, especially when the turnover battle is so important," Clifford said. "With analytics, everybody talks about winning the turnover battle. We talk about the ball, and I was careless with the ball on two plays. I felt good, it was just that I made two critical errors that I wish I could have back, but that's why you play the game." Resilient and free of excuses in the im- mediate aftermath of a disappointing blow, Clifford is taking an approach that will likely pay dividends for himself and the Nittany Lions moving forward. ■ DIVE PLAY Clifford finishes off a Penn State drive with a 35- yard touchdown run in the season opener at Indi- ana. Photo cour- tesy of Penn State Athletics

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