Problems for the Penn State Nittany Lions’ 2020 season continued to pile on during Saturday’s afternoon matchup against Nebraska. Heading into the game, Penn State was searching for its first win against the Cornhuskers who were also winless.
Despite being off to a rough start this year, Penn State’s quarterback Sean Clifford was hopeful to get the team’s season back on track with what looked like an easier conference matchup for them.
Unfortunately for the Junior quarterback, his struggles continued early on during the matchup. Coming into Saturday’s game, Clifford has thrown for 859 yards, nine touchdowns, and five interceptions. His quarterback rating of 67.3 ranks 53rd in the NCAA.
Although Clifford maintained his job as the starting quarterback last season, his leash was clearly short against Nebraska this year as the Nittany Lions switched quarterbacks in the first half of the matchup after an ugly start for Clifford.
The Junior quarterback managed to throw eight passes, completing five of them for 37 yards. While averaging under five yards-per-completion Clifford also threw a wildly inaccurate pass, leaving James Franklin and the Nittany Lions’ coaching staff no choice but to take him out.
Now, Sophomore quarterback Will Levis is getting his shot under center. So far, Levis’ contributions didn’t exactly outshine Clifford’s struggles, but it seems Penn State is much more comfortable with keeping Clifford off the field for the time being.
Whether they will roll with Levis as the starter or not moving forward will remain unclear until next weekend. Still, considering what Clifford has done so far this season, it wouldn’t be shocking if Penn State tried to utilize Levis for the rest of the year with hopes of seeing things turn around moving forward.
