Last week, Penn State starting quarterback Sean Clifford spoke with reporters in advance of the team’s New Year’s Day clash with No. 21 Arkansas in the Outback Bowl.
This will be Clifford’s second career start in a bowl game, the first in two years after helping the Nittany Lions to a 53-39 win over then-No. 17 Memphis in the 2019 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
The nearly month layoff between Penn State’s last game, a 30-27 loss in its regular season finale at then-No. 12 Michigan State, and the Outback Bowl has sustained and even raised expectations for Jan. 1, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary for this program.
“I think that we always have high expectations throughout the country with our fanbase,” Clifford said. “Everybody’s going to expect us to go out and perform, whether you had a week off on a bye week, whether you had a month off preparing for a bowl game or if you’re back-to-back in the Big Ten.”
Those expectations continue to be high despite a year in which the program reached No. 4 in the AP Poll after starting out the season 5-0, only to finish 7-5 overall with a 4-5 conference record.
The losses themselves were incredibly close, with the Nittany Lions playing the likes of Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State down to the wire.
However, that 5-0 start showed the explosiveness and firepower this team has, defeating the likes of Wisconsin and Auburn, the first of now two SEC opponents Penn State will face this season.
“We played one SEC school and we know what they’re capable of doing in that league,” Clifford said.
Clifford, who is returning for a sixth year next season, had some high praise for the Razorbacks, a team who defeated Texas A&M and Mississippi State this season and played teams like Ole Miss and Alabama incredibly close.
“To be able to play a second [SEC team] this year, one that’s extremely talented, on the rise, had a great season this year, it’s incredibly exciting,” Clifford said.
That praise is 100% warranted for a program like Arkansas, but Clifford and Penn State aren’t one bit phased by their SEC opponent or the upcoming bowl.
The Nittany Lions are a battle-tested team and have gotten healthier with time, using this month to their advantage to let players recover and ready themselves for New Year’s Day.
“I think it’s an opportunity to cap the season off the way that we want to, in a prestigious bowl like the Outback Bowl,” Clifford said. “There’s a lot of opportunity there and I couldn’t be more excited.”
The Outback Bowl kicks off at noon EST, Jan. 1, 2022 on ESPN 2.
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