Sean Clifford dominates Utah defense, ends career as a Rose Bowl champion
PASADENA, Calif. — 13 years ago, an 11-year-old Sean Clifford stood in front of the entrance to the Rose Bowl before the 2009 contest against USC.
Fast forward to the present day, and Clifford’s dream of playing in “The Granddaddy of Them All” became a reality.
The sixth-year senior torched the Utah defense en route to a 35-21 victory and him capturing the offensive MVP.
“I just remember really falling in love with football there, specifically falling in love with the quarterback position,” Clifford said. “For it to come full circle and then to be able to just be a spoke in the wheel for this team in the Rose Bowl is just such a blessing.”
After winning the Cotton Bowl in 2019, Penn State fell on hard times, going 11-11 in the past two seasons.
The Nittany Lions' struggles prompted Clifford to return to the blue and white as he felt the program had unfinished business.
The program rebounded significantly with an 11-2 record, the same record he had in his first year as a starter. Clifford led Penn State to a Rose Bowl win, something the program failed to accomplish six seasons ago.
“I was here in 2016, one of the better Rose Bowl games, and watched somebody else celebrate, and I wanted this for them,” James Franklin said. “I couldn't have written the script any better for Sean Clifford to be the offensive MVP.”
The veteran quarterback finished the game by completing 16 of 22 pass attempts for 279 yards and two touchdowns.
Clifford was dialed in from the opening snap, and he turned in one of the best performances of his career.
His longest pass of the day made history as he connected with KeAndre Lambert-Smith for an 88-yard touchdown, the longest in Rose Bowl history.
“I just did my job. I just ran my route. Sean hit me, and I just knew we had momentum, and I’d celebrate with my team,” Lambert-Smith said. “Sean’s a pretty organized, locked-in person, but I definitely feel like he played with some spark today.”
The most impressive part of the play was it came on third down, and it was one of Penn State’s seven third down conversions in the contest.
While Clifford deserves a lot of the credit for Monday’s win, offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich had one of the best performances he’s ever had.
“We were thinking about, one, how can we max protect and then how can we double move them,” Yurcich said. “And that was a call that was like, ‘OK, this is a good one. Let’s call it and hope for the best.’”
The blue and white offense started the game slow against the Utes' defense, but it gained momentum as the quarter rolled along.
Once the third quarter came, the Nittany Lions offense was playing lights out, and there was nothing Utah could do to slow them down.
“Just getting that feel the first drive, second drive, and then once we understood, ‘OK, they're going to be coming out in this more,’ once we saw that defense,” Clifford said, “it was easier to start to scheme some things up, really hone into specific parts of the game plan.”
Utah sent heavy pressure from the opening snap, but Clifford used his six years of experience to pick apart the defense.
Penn State had a quarterback controversy this campaign between Clifford and true freshman Drew Allar.
Despite calls to bench the veteran for the rising phenom, Franklin stuck with his guy while getting Allar valuable reps for the future.
“I can’t say enough great things about Sean… the way he prepares and just the way he goes out and competes and finishes everything he does,” Allar said. “He says something, he’s gonna do it.”
The next step in Clifford’s football journey will be preparing for the NFL Draft.
His name hasn’t been on many draft boards, but after a dominant performance in the Rose Bowl, that could very much change.
“It doesn't matter race, religion, where you're from, I've got brothers for life in that locker room,” Clifford said. “I just can't thank everybody enough for my experience at Penn State. I cherished every minute of it, the ups and the downs. I just couldn't be more thankful.”
Alex Rocco is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email alex.rocco1702@gmail.com.
