Sean Clifford

ANALYSIS
Clifford led Penn State to its third Rose Bowl win in program history, logging a season-high 13.3 yards per attempt on the biggest stage of college football. The sixth-year senior got off to a rough start with a run for a three-yard loss followed by a sack on the opening series of the game. But, he quickly bounced back two drives later, taking Penn State down the field with five completions on six passes for 57 yards to set up a five-yard rushing touchdown by freshman running back Nicholas Singleton. Clifford then went 4-for-5 passing for 68 yards and a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Tinsley on a 70-yard scoring drive on the subsequent possession. The signal-caller capped off this performance with a season-long 88-yard touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith on the first play of the fourth quarter, putting Penn State up 28-14. This set Clifford's next career-high for passing touchdowns in a season (24), and he finished his four-year starting career with 84 passing touchdowns to 31 interceptions as well as 15 rushing touchdowns across his 47 games in a white and blue uniform. With Clifford's time in Happy Valley now at an end, budding freshman Drew Allar is in line to ascend into the team's starting quarterback role in 2023.