It's been a tough start to the season for the Nittany Lions. Not only is Penn State 0-4, but they were also humiliated by Maryland on their home field, while never really in the game against an Ohio State squad that's been plucking some of the region's top recruits for years now.
To get a better feel for how the Nittany Lions are performing, we used Pro Football Focus to compare Penn State's offensive players to not only others in the Big Ten, but in the other Power Five conferences.
If you're unfamiliar with how PFF works and grades out players, check out their FAQ page here.
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Quarterback
Overall Offensive Grades
Sean Clifford - 55.3
Will Levis - 68.6
Following Saturday's game at Nebraska, Sean Clifford is now the 24th-ranked quarterback out of 25 in the Big Ten. Only Coran Taylor from Illinois has a lower rating, but he's also only had about one-third of the dropbacks compared to Clifford, so that's not really a fair comparison. Out of the quarterbacks that have at least 100 dropbacks, Clifford is the only player with a rating in the 50s. He also leads the conference in dropbacks with 161 and is second in scrambles with 15.
In 2019, Clifford finished the season with a 71.2 overall rating. His rating was in the high 70s up until when he got injured against Ohio State. In fact, ever since that injury, there's been a drastic shift in his play. He scored a 41.4 rating before getting injured in that game, and followed that up a 44.2 in the Cotton Bowl. Anything in the 40s should be considered a failing grade.
