Blue White Illustrated

that. There's no ifs, ands or buts. We've got to figure it out, because it's unaccept- able to ourselves, the program, to the coaches, to the fans. It's unacceptable. So we've got to figure this out." Clifford's fumble-six in the third quar- ter was the nadir for Penn State. The Lions were hampered by a series of turnovers by their quarterbacks, prima- rily Clifford but also backup Will Levis as he ascended into a starting role against Iowa. With the team struggling in all phases, the QBs often found themselves pressing to make big plays rather than taking what was available to them. "There's a fine line, obviously, and I think that I crossed the line a couple times, just feeling the pressure of the sit- uation, being down by as much as we were," Clifford said. "But again, that's just another criticism that I have to put upon myself. I can't play outside the framework like that. I've got to be better, and yeah, I'll watch the tape and see what specifi- cally I can do to improve." MOMENT NO. 1 PENN STATE @ INDIANA OCT. 24 From the press box on the opposite 20- >> For Penn State and Big Ten, it could have been worse I f all had gone according to plan, Penn State would be playing a football game this coming Saturday. OK, maybe "plan" is too strong a word. When the Big Ten announced in August that it was scrapping its 2020 fall sea- son, league officials made only vague assurances that they would look to try again in the winter or spring. Following the postponement, Ohio State's Ryan Day proposed the first week of January as the optimum time to start playing games, believing that it would be best not to drag the season too deep into the new year. Penn State's James Franklin echoed Day's sentiments, and with two of the league's most prominent coaches advocating an early launch, much of the subsequent speculation about what a spring season might look like centered on the idea that it would begin in early January. But that's about as close as the league ever got to putting a plan in motion to start everything up right around now. No one in any decision-making capacity ever said that's how it was going to go down. And for that, we should all be grateful. In retrospect, the move to belatedly join forces with the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences and the Big 12 by playing the fall was absolutely the right call – not necessarily because the fall season ended up being a rousing success, but because a spring campaign would likely have been even more ridden with shutdowns and cancellations than this past season was. What's more, it would have had the disadvantage of handicapping Big Ten teams heading into what will hopefully be a more con- ventional 2021 season. Did someone say "not a rousing suc- cess"? By almost any measure, the 2020 Big Ten season was a dud. Only two teams – Penn State and Rutgers – man- aged to play their full nine-game slates. Two of the league's marquee teams – Penn State and Michigan – endured their worst seasons in years, with the Nittany Lions compiling their first los- ing record since 2004 and the Wolver- ines finishing below .500 for the first time since 2014. Both teams announced before bowl selection day that they weren't interested in extending their seasons beyond Champions Week. The Big Ten also had to cancel its biggest game of the year – Michigan- Ohio State – because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Wolverines' program, making this the first year since 1917 that one of the greatest rivalries in sports wasn't contested. And speaking of the Buckeyes, they needed a special dispensation from the conference to get into the Big Ten Championship Game. That probably was the right move, but after beating West Division champ Northwestern to earn a matchup with Clemson in the semifinals of the College Football Play- off, they were trolled mercilessly by Dabo Swinney for not playing anything remotely like a full schedule. Not only did Swinney rank the Buckeyes 11th on his ballot in the USA Today coaches poll, he uttered this gem in response to a question about scouting them in ad- vance of the Sugar Bowl: "That'll be a quick study for us, because there's only six [games]." Ohio State wiped the smirk off of Swinney's face with a 49-28 victory, but the flak that the Buckeyes caught was a telling indication of just how deeply compromised this Big Ten season really was. Usually, coaches go out of their way to avoid insulting an upcoming oppo- nent. And yet, for all the angst it caused and the criticism it inspired, if the season was going to be played at all, it's better that it took place in October, November and December. The initial push for a spring season was premised on hopes that the country would eventually be in better shape to combat COVID. In some ways, those hopes have been realized. Rapid-testing capacity has improved since last sum- mer, and there are two vaccines being C O M M E N T A R Y B Y M A T T H E R B

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