Penn State finds balance between QBs in win over Michigan State
Their shared task completed for the moment in the form of a go-ahead, third-quarter drive, Sean Clifford and Will Levis sat aside one another on the Penn State bench.
What followed epitomized the formula for just about every television sitcom to ever grace the airwaves. Clifford gestured with his hands and laughed heartily, exuberantly slapping Levis’ shoulder with the back of his hand as Levis sat with his arms folded over his chest, muttering out of the side of his mouth — one man silly, the other seemingly serious.
Not long before, they’d combined for near perfection between the sidelines, finishing a key scoring drive with a pristine four-play sequence.
Levis, throwing just his second pass in four weeks, fit a ball through a tight window to Jahan Dotson for a 36-yard gain. Then came Clifford’s turn, and he found Parker Washington for a 26-yard gain to bring the Nittany Lions to the Michigan State 7-yard line.
Levis then shifted back into four-wheel drive — his default setting of late — bulldozing for a 6-yard rush and then a 1-yard touchdown to give the Nittany Lions a 25-24 lead they never relinquished. In different ways, they’d both contributed to Penn State’s success at a crucial juncture.
“It’s just so exciting, because you know how hard somebody works,” Clifford said postgame. “Will and I are super close through everything, When he got the starting role against Iowa, I was all for him, I made sure that he understood that there’s no hard feelings, it’s for the team, and he’s the same way. It’s just nice to have that type of room where you just love each other.”
Their shared task completed for the moment in the form of a go-ahead, third-quarter
Levis, used exclusively as a rusher for two weeks in a row, completed all three of his passes for 54 yards. He ran the ball 15 times for 36 yards and a touchdown, with a large chunk of those carries coming as Penn State milked the clock in the fourth quarter.
Clifford’s passing role was more expansive. He was 17-for-27 through the air for 232 yards and a pair of scores. On an off-day for Penn State’s running backs, Clifford was also the Nittany Lions’ most efficient rusher, carrying nine times for 48 yards and a score.
In Penn State's best offensive game of the season, it was the most balanced example of the Nittany Lions’ two-quarterback system, with both signal-callers doing a little bit of everything.
Franklin had been saying for weeks that he wanted to get Levis more involved through the air, and, just as those words seemed like nothing more than an attempt to add a few more minutes onto the opposition’s scouting meetings, Levis was unleashed — and to great effect.
“I’ve always had the confidence in myself to do whatever is asked for a quarterback in this offense,” Levis said. “It’s good to have the ability to throw the ball downfield a little bit today. I know the coaches trust me as well, and it’s just a matter of finding situations where it can work for us.
“I’m always just going to do whatever the team needs me to do to win. If that means to run the ball, great, if it means to throw the ball, great, if that means to do both, even better.”
But, crucially, Levis’ excellence did not come at Clifford’s expense.
Penn State’s early-season tendency to replace one quarterback with the other as an act of desperation has morphed into a desire to use both at once. It puts defenses off balance, Clifford said postgame, and it’s also allowed him to get up off the mat after a poor start to the year.
He didn’t turn the ball over against the Spartans Saturday for the second time in three games. In Penn State’s final three games of the season — all wins, Clifford threw just one interception, compared to eight in Penn State’s first five games.
Any threat of hard feelings over playing time has long since been eradicated, with both men leaning on their shared friendship to ensure ego doesn’t get involved. They do similar things in different ways. Levis “totes the rock,” as Clifford put it. Clifford doesn’t let his pads crash quite as loudly.
With both set to return, could this continue into next season? Can a two-quarterback system do more than stabilize an 0-5 team with nothing to cling onto? The answer from Franklin was an emphatic “no comment.”
“Obviously, I’m not talking about 2021,” he said.
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