Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1439730
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 2 6 1 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M called upon because of an injury to John Sacca, Tony's younger brother and the winner of PSU's preseason quarterback battle. "When you know in the preseason you are going to be the starting quarterback, you can prepare for it," recalled Richard- son, who is now in charge of the Football Letterman's Club. Paterno stripped the game plan to the bare essentials, and Richardson quickly remembered what he had learned in pre- season practice. He led the Lions to a 24-20 victory, with Cincinnati scoring six points in the game's final seconds. The next week, Richardson guided Penn State to a 49-8 rout of Temple before returning to a backup role for the rest of the year. The 2022 season will be Clifford's sixth year at Penn State. After redshirting in 2017, he played in four games the follow- ing year before taking over as starter in 2019. He missed the last regular-season game against Rutgers in 2019 because of an injury but was back for the Cotton Bowl. During the initial pandemic year of 2020, Clifford started all the games except Iowa, and in 2021 he started them all but was pulled early in the home finale against Rutgers because he was not play- ing well due to a bad case of the flu. Clifford is all but certain to become the first four-year co-captain in the 135-year history of Penn State football. He also could set some additional team passing records. Penn State's official passing records, as printed in the annual media guides, go back to the 1946 season. Elwood Petchel, a left halfback on coach Bob Higgins' single-wing teams of 1946-48, was the only player to lead the Lions in passing yardage for three years until Fusina. Keep in mind that the single wing was primarily a power-running of- fense. From 1946 through 1961, only one player had more than 1,000 passing yards in a season. That player was Tony Rados, who finished with 1,025 yards in 1953 as the centerpiece of coach Rip Engle's wing-T formation. During his long tenure as head coach, Paterno was often described as being a devotee of the running game. One might think he would be shocked by the fast- paced, no-huddle offenses that have produced the high-scoring outcomes now common every Saturday in college football. But his son Jay, who was on Penn State's coaching staff for 16 years, disagrees. "He used to joke with us about all the new zone-read and no-huddle offenses being nothing more than what he was doing in high school and college when it was considered unsportsmanlike for the coaches to call the plays," Jay said. "So even at Brooklyn Prep they were in a no-huddle offense in 1944." Jay said that during Penn State's 2008 and '09 seasons, Penn State had more than 100 sets that featured four or even five wide receivers. He said the Lions also jumped into a no-huddle attack at times during the normal course of a game. "Joe's overarching philosophy was to evaluate the personnel on defense, spe- cial teams and offense," Jay said. "Then he would fit our plans to the personnel rather than always being committed to the system over personnel. "So, to wrap it all up, he would likely say that running a no-huddle, fast- paced offense has to have a purpose. You never get anything for nothing. The faster you go on offense, the more pres- sure you put not only on the opponent's defense but also your own. It all has to tie together to what your entire team's strengths and weaknesses are." The need to capitalize on strengths and hide weaknesses will continue to guide Penn State's decision-making in 2022, when one of its primary strengths will be the return of Clifford, one of the most experienced quarterbacks in school history. ■