Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1488968
2 0 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Outgoing quarterback Sean Clifford has helped fashion Penn State into a frequent New Year's Six participant A few days after Penn State learned that it was going to end its sea- son against Utah in the Rose Bowl, sixth-year senior quarterback Sean Clif- ford tweeted a snapshot of himself from about 15 years ago. In the photo, he's standing in front of the main entrance to the game's hal- lowed home stadium cradling a foot- ball and wearing a T-shirt, shorts and a smile, all of which look to be about three sizes too big. Clifford and a friend had been in Southern California for a football camp, accompanied by their fathers. For the aspiring young quarterback from Cin- cinnati, a third-grader at the time, the visit was one of the first steps in a jour- ney that would eventually lead to Penn State, where he would become a four- year starter, an All-Big Ten performer and a participant in two New Year's Six bowls, the second of which is bringing an end to his long college career. "It's coming full circle for me now," Clifford said during a recent appearance on Jim Rome's radio show. "Being able to do that with my dad and one of my best friends and his dad, to go to a camp out there when I was that young and have the inspiration of playing in a game like that someday, and now being able to do it and having those dreams come to life — it means a lot." Since Clifford took the reins of the Nittany Lions' offense ahead of the 2019 season, the fortunes of the player and the team have been tethered together. A rare four-year starter at quarterback, he's been the face of Penn State's program and has served ably in that capacity, sidestepping controversy at every turn while continually projecting optimism no matter what the circumstances. "He's really represented our university and our football program the right way, both on and off the field, in his entire career," head coach James Franklin said, "and he's been doing it for a long time." It's fitting, then, that the Rose Bowl invitation was a full-circle moment for Penn State, too. A Sign Of Progress The Nittany Lions made their first- ever bowl appearance in 1923 when they faced USC in Pasadena. They fell to the Trojans 14-3 after a nearly weeklong trip to the West Coast and an arduous drive to the stadium on game day — a ride that ended with their taxis getting stuck in traffic and players having to trudge the last mile on foot. But there's no need to delve that deeply into PSU's football lore to find historical resonances. The Nittany Lions' recent upswing can be traced to the 2016 season — another campaign that ended with an appearance against USC in the Rose Bowl. M AT T H E R B | M AT T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M A Man For All Postseasons