Daryl Clark

Penn State beat the favored LSU Tigers in the Capital One Bowl, held in Orlando, Florida, on January 1^st.  The field conditions were brutal, as it had poured the entire day before the game, and the Champs Sports Bowl was played there only 3 days earlier.  The poor field conditions were assumed to be beneficial to Penn State, whose defense hoped to slow the explosiveness and speed of LSU.

This game was a messy, muddy battle for first downs and field position, as the explosive plays were limited.  The one true explosive play was the first score of the game, when Daryl Clark hit WR Derrick Moye for a 37 yard touchdown pass.  The Nittany Lions took this 7-0 lead into the second quarter, and added two field goals by Collin Wagner in the second quarter to take a 13-3 lead into half.  LSU began to find its offensive firepower in the second half, as LSU scored two consecutive touchdowns after a Penn State Wagner field goal, and took the lead 17-16 past the midway point of the 4^th quarter.

Daryl Clark had an opportunity, with 6:54 left in the game, to leave his mark on his Penn State career.  To prove his doubters wrong.  To finally win “a big game.”  There were many people who believed, and I was one of them, that Daryl Clark could not win a big game, and that his numbers in these games indicated that he choked in such opportunities.  Last year against Iowa, he went 9-23 for 86 yards with 1 INT in Penn State’s single regular season loss.  In addition, he went 12-20 for 121 yards against Ohio State in 2008, but looked so bad that he was pulled in favor of Pat Devlin, from whom Clark won the starting job in the preseason.  After Clark was pulled, the Lions scored 10 straight points to overcome a 6-3 deficit and win 13-3.  Finally, the Nittany Lions were thoroughly beaten by USC in the 2009 Rose Bowl to close the season. This year, it was much of the same story.  Clark won the games he had to, but performed poorly and lost to Ohio State and Iowa, the two biggest games of the year, and both games at home. 

At this point many fans were considering whether the coaching staff had made the right decision by naming Clark as the starter over Devlin the year prior.  Devlin had since transferred to Delaware.  These fans cited as their reasoning both the fact that Daryl had not won a big game in his career, and that Devlin brought the Lions back to win in the Ohio State game in 2008, in his only appearance.  However, as my friend intelligently stated, Devlin did not throw one pass in his appearance against Ohio State.  Penn State relied on Evan Royster to carry the load, and Devlin performed a QB sneak to score Penn State’s only touchdown in that game.  Devlin had done nothing to show that he was more deserving of the starting role than Clark.  Couple that with the fact that the coaches saw each quarterback perform every day in practice and chose Clark, and one must realize that Clark was by all accounts the best option at quarterback for the Nittany Lions.

Clark had all this pressure on his shoulders.  He knew that he hadn’t performed well enough in big games, and took it personally.  In the Capital One bowl he came out relaxed.  He didn’t seem to put too much pressure on himself, which appeared to be his problem in the past.  He made some good passes, and although some were dropped, he looked on the whole relaxed and accurate.  He managed the game very effectively and kept his team in the game. 

He managed the game to a 17-16 deficit with 6:54 remaining in the game, Penn State ball.  He had everything that was stated above on his shoulders.  He led the team on a 12 play, 65 yard drive that ate 5:57 of game time and left only 57 seconds on the clock.  Clark went 3-3 for 33 yards and 44 total yards in a drive that would define Clark’s career at Penn State.  It was a drive that was defined by leadership, poise, accuracy, and athleticism.  Wagner added the field goal, and LSU could not drive down the field in such little time.  Penn State won the game 19-17.

In simple terms, Daryl deserved this game.  He has been an ambassador for Penn State and the game of college football.  He has had a great career at Penn State, compiling a 21-4 record.  He has simply been plagued in a few games, and has been criticized for it.  However, by winning this game against a traditional SEC powerhouse, the 13^th ranked team in the nation, he dispelled many of his doubters, and earned his place in the long and rich history of Penn State football.