As Clifford returned to the sideline after the touchdown, he walked right past Franklin on the sideline without making eye contact. The two, like most coach-and-quarterback tandems, are the twin pillars of their team’s successes and shortcomings.
Clifford, 24, is much the same quarterback he was when he took over as a starter in 2019 — a gritty competitor who has rarely been able to lift his team past the best teams with his arm or decision-making. On the same day he set a record for touchdown passes for a Penn State quarterback, Clifford turned the ball over four times.
“The key stat, obviously, is wins and loss,” said Clifford, who was greeted by boos when he took the field for the final possession. “It’s hard to assess how I play individually. All I know is we didn’t take care of business.”
Franklin, though, has not been able to find anyone he likes better. Will Levis couldn’t beat out Clifford, and now he is starting at Kentucky. Christian Veilleux could not unseat Clifford last season, and Drew Allar, a highly-regarded freshman, has been deemed not yet worthy of unseating Clifford.
Clifford will be departing after this season, but Franklin will not be going anywhere.
As a going-away present, Sandy Barbour, who retired as Penn State’s athletic director last summer, bestowed a new 10-year contract — worth $75 million plus incentives — on Franklin last November, despite several middling seasons and repeated losses to the school’s rivals.
When asked to characterize the gap between Penn State and Ohio State and Michigan, Franklin turned away from the questioner.
“They’ve got good football teams,” he said. “We played really well against Ohio State today, had a chance to win the game, made too many mistakes in a critical moment, which you can’t do against a top-ranked opponent like that.”
Whether Franklin will one day be able to erase the rift between the teams remains uncertain, but his contract ensures that he’ll get plenty of chances.