Analysis: Turnovers offer crystal correlation to Penn State's slide

From the start of his Tuesday press conference, Penn State head coach James Franklin detailed the program’s woes through the first three weeks of the 2020 season.

Recapping the latest setback, a 35-19 loss to Maryland at Beaver Stadium Saturday that left the Nittany Lions at 0-3 with few signs of life, Franklin explained the reasons why. At the top of the list, Penn State had again lost the turnover battle with the Terrapins, this time committing another three to boost its season total seven.

“We got to protect the football on offense,” Franklin said. “The ball is the program.”

Penn State’s record dating back to its 31-26 loss at Minnesota last November, now 3-5 spanning the two seasons, suggests Franklin is correct.

As opposed to the Nittany Lions’ 8-0 start to the 2019 season in which they committed just seven turnovers while creating 14, Penn State has lost 12 turnovers and generated only 10 in the eight games since. And in four of the five losses, Penn State finished on the losing side of the ledger in the turnover battle.

At the center of the issue has been the performance of redshirt junior quarterback Sean Clifford. After beginning his career as a starter with just three interceptions and no lost fumbles through his first eight games, Clifford has been charged with 11 of Penn State’s 12 turnovers dating back to the loss in Minneapolis, throwing nine interceptions and losing two fumbles.

The only turnover not charged to Clifford in that span? A Will Levis interception that was thrown against Rutgers in a game Clifford missed due to injury.

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The Nittany Lions’ turnover issues aren’t so simple, though. Addressing his decision to keep Clifford in the game against Maryland amidst a particularly rough outing, completing 27 of his 57 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns, but with two interceptions and a fumble-six, Franklin reiterated his thinking on Tuesday.

“I feel like Sean has earned that. He's our starter. I'm not a guy that yanks guys and has quarterbacks looking over their shoulder,” Franklin said. “I think that's something that has served us well and has served me well over my 10 years. Me playing the position, I don't think that breeds confidence. When Will is the guy, he's gonna want the same treatment that Sean has earned.”

So too would any quarterback want the support shown to Clifford this week by teammates and coaches. Asked to describe the process of dissecting turnovers, tight end Pat Freiermuth immediately dispersed the blame from Clifford’s shoulders solely to that of the entire offense.

Noting the offensive line’s protection, receivers running correct routes with correct depth, and yes, Clifford’s decision-making, Freiermuth insisted that the issue is more than meets the eye.

“The majority of Cliff's interceptions or turnovers should be going to other people, except him,” Freiermuth said. “That's the frustrating thing is the media and other people think it's just Cliff turning the ball over and it's his fault. But in reality, if we could go back to every turnover that he's had, we could have pointed to four other guys on the field that lead up to things that caused that turnover.

“Cliff is doing everything that he needs to do and I think Cliff, obviously, there are some things that he needs to correct in his decision-making, and we've talked about that. But the majority of his turnovers haven't been him. It's been other people that wasn't executing the correct way or making the correct block or running the right route. So, if we could go back and pinpoint those turnovers, I would say only really two or three of them were really his.”

Taking responsibility for the two first-half interceptions thrown at Indiana, saying both were “completely on me,” Clifford acknowledged Saturday that some of his struggles the first three games have come as a result of trying to make a play when one might not be there. Finding themselves playing from behind in the first half of all three games, the balance between taking what’s available and forcing the issue is something Clifford has tried to navigate, sometimes unsuccessfully.

“There's a fine line obviously and I think that I crossed the line a couple of times, just feeling the pressure of the situation, being down by as much as we were,” he said. “That's just another criticism that I have to put upon myself. I can't play outside the framework like that. I gotta be better.”

Searching out answers to the turnover problems this season, Franklin also detailed the many contributing factors that often appear in conjunction with those miscues. In addition to simply poor throws and poor decisions, passes deflected off receivers’ hands, or at the line of scrimmage, ultimately get divided up.

“Was this purely on the quarterback, or did the pressure cause the interception? Was this purely on the quarterback, or did a hit cause that or a lack of detail in the route or whatever it may be?” Franklin asked. “A fumble because of lack of ball security to me is different than a defender that puts his hand directly on the ball or his head directly on the ball.

“It’s not strictly just the turnover and who gets that turnover in the stat sheet. Let's make sure that we truly understand the scheme. Let's make sure that we truly understand what's being asked and where does the fault lie, in the coaches in the call, in the detail of the route, in the protection and the decision, whatever it may be. And we do that with all of them because for you to correct a problem, the first thing you have to do is identify what the issue was.”

Staring down the program’s worst start dating back to 2001, a season that saw the Nittany Lions start 0-4 on the year and finish just 5-6 overall, it’s an issue at the forefront of Penn State’s priorities this week.

“The whole offense needs to get better and communicate better and we need to get better with our decision-making,” Freiermuth said. “We just need to stop turning the ball over and fix that today in practice.”

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