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Freshman quarterback Christian Veilleux had an encouraging debut for the Nittany Lions last weekend against Rutgers, but head coach James Franklin is not about to let that lead to any quarterback controversy in the final game of the regular season. Speaking with the media on Tuesday, before the announcement of his brand new contract, Franklin confirmed the plan at quarterback will be to go back to a healthy Sean Clifford.
“We’ll go back to the rotation that we’ve had,” Franklin said when discussing the starting quarterback position with Clifford as the starter and Veilleux as the first backup option if needed. “Obviously it’s a good feeling knowing that you have a [No. 2 QB] who has played and played at a high level in actual game reps, which is something we hadn’t had up to that point.” (Transcribed quote via Lions 247)
Clifford was one of many players on Penn State’s roster battling non-COVID illness last weekend against Rutgers. Franklin said after the game Penn State was without 35 players for one reason or another, with at least 20 out due to illness. Clifford was also banged up after a rough start to the game. Clifford left the game in the first quarter, and Veilleux led the offense for the remainder of the game, a 28-0 victory over Rutgers.
The performance of Veilleux led many Penn State fans to question why he wasn’t used in a similar situation earlier in the season against Iowa. As Franklin explained previously, though, Veilleux is a player who improved as the season went along and he wasn’t viewed as ready for the situation on the road against the Hawkeyes. After Clifford left the game at Iowa due to injury, Ta’Quan Roberson replaced him at quarterback, and the offense was unable to do much of anything afterward. Of course, coming in to lead the offense at home against Rutgers and doing so on the road against Iowa are two vastly different situations as well.
Franklin going back to Clifford, who supposedly won’t be hooked up to any IVs leading up to the game, should have been an expected outcome. When healthy, Clifford does give Penn State its best chance to move the football, and having an experienced quarterback with the receiver options he has at his disposal will be a potential advantage this week against Michigan State. Michigan State has the nation’s 130th pass defense in all of FBS, and there are 130 teams.
Michigan State is allowing 339.9 passing yards per game and has given up 23 touchdowns through the air. Last week at Ohio State, Michigan State gave up 449 passing yards and six touchdowns to Buckeyes quarterback C.J. Stroud. The Buckeyes averaged 10.4 yards per pass attempt against Michigan State. Two weeks prior, Purdue racked up 536 passing yards with Biletnikoff Award finalist (Jahan Dotson did not make the finalist cut) David Bell having a field day against Michigan State. Safe to say these are not the old days of the Michigan State no-fly zone defense.
But, no matter who plays quarterback for Penn State, they will be going up against a Michigan State team looking to end their season with a confidence-boosting win at home in the final game of the regular season. For Michigan State, a win will be necessary to keep any hope of playing in a New Years Six bowl game alive.
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