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No one could have imagined that one of the most important days of the 2021 college football season was on January 28.
It was at this point that Will Levis, the replacement Penn State quarterback who threw 102 passes in his first three seasons of college football, announced he would enter the transfer portal. At the time, it didn’t seem so bad. Levis had been a solid substitute when called up, but he didn’t beat Sean Clifford for the starting position.
So Levis went to Kentucky and another Penn State replacement, Micah Bowens, left for Oklahoma. But losing two quarterbacks in a year isn’t unique to the Nittany Lions. When a college football program has a entrenched quarterback these days, those behind him on the depth board are likely to seek more playing time elsewhere. It’s now part of the sport.
It can also change the trajectory of everything.
Before Clifford suffered an unspecified injury in the second quarter on Saturday, it sure looked like the Penn State No.4 was going to beat the Iowa No.3 – a result that would have had massive implications for the Big Ten and College Football race. Playoff.
At the time, Penn State was leading 17-3 and had managed to move the ball over the Iowa defense. Clifford, despite two interceptions, had been quite effective. As the first half wore on, the Nittany Lions seemed more and more comfortable on the road in rowdy Kinnick Stadium. It wasn’t hard to imagine them winning the Big Ten or maybe even making a strong college football playoff record with just one loss to Ohio State.
And then, just a clumsy move later, it was all over. It took Iowa until the middle of the fourth quarter to finally gain the advantage, but Penn State coach James Franklin must have felt helpless watching inexperienced sophomore redshirt Ta’Quan Roberson try to operate his road attack against a nasty opponent. . With Roberson in the game, Penn State just couldn’t do much.
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As a result, all of Penn State is hoping the Playoffs will depend on Ohio State winning Columbus on October 30.
There is nothing new in football about the health of a starting quarterback as a basis for whether teams are hitting their cap. At some point in almost every season, the backup quarterback will matter. But in the era of the transfer portal, where so many quarterbacks become free agents if they don’t start, this is the one position most programs can’t really bank on from year to year. ‘other.
What’s the value of an experienced quarterback who doesn’t feel like a change of scenery? Just look at Georgia, who has had to face Stetson Bennett IV in two crucial games against Arkansas and Auburn in the past two weeks due to lat tension from JT Daniels.
Bennett, who actually left Georgia after his freshman year to play junior varsity ball but returned in 2019, has proven to be invaluable over the past two seasons. He won’t win any All-SEC awards, but he runs a functional offense, limits errors, and shoots high percentage points. Saturday’s 34-10 win at Auburn was arguably the best game of his career with 231 passing yards on 14 of 21 attempts and 41 rushing yards.
In many ways, Bennett is the role model every college program should aspire to for their backup quarterback: a guy who will stick around for several years, agree to be a replacement, understand the system, and play solid football when he is. called. Georgia probably need Daniels to be healthy to win a national title, but his offense isn’t going to fall off a cliff if he’s not there.
Penn State, on the other hand, were an entirely different team when Clifford left the game. In fact, the Nittany Lions even struggled to get snaps without someone moving early on the offensive line. And when they started the games clean, there wasn’t much they could do to help Roberson, who completed just 7 of 21 passes for 34 yards and two interceptions.
There is no one to blame for how overwhelmed Roberson was with Iowa. Few of the red-shirted freshmen playing in that kind of environment against arguably the nation’s second-best defensive team would do well.
But if it was Levis replacing Clifford on Saturday instead of a totally inexperienced quarterback, you have to think Penn State would have had a good chance of hanging on.
At the same time, things have gone pretty well for Levis, who is starting out for a scorching Kentucky team that could soon enter the top 10. His story, in a way, is a great publicity for the new NCAA rule. which allows players to transfer once without penalty.
In college football, there are only a few years available to maximize your chances. And for quarterbacks, only one can play at a time. It’s hard to tell someone like Levis that he should stay in Penn State in case the starter gets injured when he had the opportunity to be the guy on an SEC program.
On Saturday, however, it put Penn State in a dire position not to have an experienced quarterback against an opponent like Iowa. And that may have just sank the hopes of the Nittany Lions to put together a dream season.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Dan Wolken on Twitter @DanWolken
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: College Football: Why It’s Harder Than Ever To Keep A Good Backup QB
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