Clifford takes pain and blame
MINNEAPOLIS >> If he didn’t have enough trouble dealing with the Minnesota defense, Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford was suffering from cramps in his right calf in the second half Saturday.
Clifford nearly brought the Nittany Lions back from a two-touchdown deficit before the Golden Gophers held on for a 31-26 victory at TCF Bank Stadium.
Clifford struggled in the first half, completing 9 of 21 passes with two interceptions. But he threw better in the second half, leading Penn State on a drive that ended with Journey Brown’s six-yard touchdown run with 3:49 to go.
After he reached to hand the football to Brown, Clifford stayed on the ground in pain. He did return.
“Late in the game, he’s hurting,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “You could really see he had no movement on that last drive. He was cramping up. His calf was like a rock. I tried to massage it out there. He let out a scream, so I left him alone. He played a tough, gutsy game.”
Clifford finished 23-for-43 for 340 yards and one touchdown, but he also threw three interceptions. His final pass on third-and-24 from the Minnesota 25 was intercepted by defensive back Jordan Howen in the end zone with 1:01 to go.
Although KJ Hamler said he should have made a better play on that last pass, Clifford said he was trying to hit wide receiver Jahan Dotson, who was near the Minnesota 5-yard line.
“I was reading that area (the middle of the field),” Clifford said. “The ball was intended to go to Jahan, and I missed.”
Clifford had thrown three interceptions in 216 pass attempts this season before he matched that Saturday. He also accepted blame for a delay of game penalty, which helped force Penn State to settle for a field goal in first quarter.
“I can guarantee that through all this I’m going to come in tomorrow with the same mentality that I’ve had before,” Clifford said, “if not hungrier.”
Penn State wide receiver Daniel George was called for a costly pass interference penalty in the final two minutes.
With the Nittany Lions threatening to go ahead after Jahan Dotson’s 49yard catch to the Minnesota 11, running back Journey Brown caught a second-down pass over the middle to the 2. But George was flagged after he made contact with a defender.
“Overall, I think the officiating has been good,” Franklin said. “I don’t want to be a guy who sits in here and talks about the officials when there are a lot of things that we could have done better.
“You just hope in a critical time like that it better be clear to make that call at that point in that game. We’ll see.”
Franklin was not happy about a non-call on Penn State’s final snap, when Clifford threw the interception in the end zone.
“It looked to me on the last play that Freiermuth (tight end Pat Freiermuth) got tackled over the middle of the field,” Franklin said.
A Minnesota defender appeared to brush Dotson near the 5-yard line, but video replays didn’t indicate that a Gopher made significant contact with Freiermuth.
Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan played a brilliant game, completing 18 of 20 passes for 339 yards and three touchdowns without a turnover.
With short drops, a quick release and great pass protection, Morgan picked apart the Penn State secondary.
“Their quarterback was locked into what we were doing in the first quarter,” said linebacker Jan Johnson. “He was reading us very well. He knew what we were in and what they could do to expose us. They hit their plays. He made his throws. He did a good job of checking them into the right plays against us, which helped them in the first half.”
For the season, Morgan has thrown for 2,100 yards and 21 touchdowns with four interceptions.
“We knew he was going to get rid of the ball quickly,” Johnson said. “Part of our game plan was focused on that stretch (running) play. They were throwing the ball a lot, so we didn’t get a lot of pressure on him in the first half.
“We adjusted in the second half and we were able to shut it down. We took a little bit too long to get to that.”