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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Penn State had visions of Justin Fields leading a run to the College Football Playoff. The Nittany Lions just didn’t imagine he would be the one standing in their way.
The former five-star quarterback recruit will indeed help decide the Big Ten East champion today, leading Ohio State against the school he originally picked.
Today’s showdown at the Horseshoe is the highest-profile matchup for the Lions at this stage of the regular season in years. The last time they were involved in a game between two top-10 teams this late in November was 1982 vs. Pitt.
Penn State was one of the first big-time programs to look at Fields for football — the Georgia native had more attention on him for baseball as he was heading into high school. But by the time he verbally committed to Penn State in 2016, he was steadily rising the recruiting rankings.
“We were involved with him early, had a significant relationship for a long time,” Lions coach James Franklin said. “Obviously very talented guy. You come up with your list of things that you’re looking for in terms of characteristics — height, weight, speed, intelligence, release, accuracy, touchdown-to-interception ratio, win/loss percentage — all the things we look at when we’re evaluating and studying quarterbacks.
“Watching him in games, watching him in practice, throwing live. He checked a lot of boxes. Based on what I’m seeing on film right now, I think we were right. He’s pretty good.”
Yup. In this case, “pretty good” means 31 passing touchdowns (40 total) to just one interception.
It’s an impressive few years of growth, one that included Fields ultimately saw him soar to become the top-rated quarterback in his high school class.
The added attention, coupled with concerns that Lions offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead would leave for a head coaching job, led to Fields reopening his recruitment in June 2017.
“I just remember before I called coach Franklin, I was nervous,” Fields told reporters in Columbus this week. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this right now.’ But I talked to my dad before, and we just felt like it was the best decision for me at the time. Because I was kind of blowing up in my recruitment, and I really didn’t want to go that far in terms of leaving home.”
So he signed with Georgia, where he played sparingly as a true freshman in 2018.
With Jake Fromm entrenched as the starter for the Bulldogs, Fields found an appealing starting job on the transfer market this offseason, landing with the Buckeyes when Dwayne Haskins left early for the NFL.
Now Fields will look to follow Haskins and J.T. Barrett, who both led Ohio State to wins over top-10 Penn State teams in each of the last two seasons.
“Yeah, of course, that’s what he has to be ready for,” Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. “That’s what he’s working for all week is to be in that game and come down and win the game in the fourth quarter like JT Barrett did, like Dwayne Haskins did the year before.
“That’s the game we’re in. So it’s going to take everything we have.”
THREE AND OUT
Homecoming for Clifford
On the other sideline, Penn State counterpart will start his first game in his home state since he won a state championship playing in Ohio Stadium for St. Xavier in 2016.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s a little personal going back,” Clifford said. “Whenever you go back to where you’re from, to play the team from where you’re from, that’s always going to a little bring extra juice.”
For all of the Buckeyes’ largesse throughout Ohio, though, their following around Clifford’s hometown of Cincinnati isn’t as fanatical.
“Yeah, but it’s still pretty big,” Clifford said. “And it’s still your home state.”
Like Clifford, Penn State’s two national championship quarterbacks were both from Ohio and both wore No. 14 in Todd Blackledge (Canton) and John Shaffer (Cincinnati). But neither got to lead the Lions into Ohio Stadium — Blackledge had to settle for a win over the Buckeyes in the 1980 Fiesta Bowl.
Penn State did bring another Ohio quarterback into the Horseshoe in 2008 in Daryll Clark (Youngstown), though he spent the second half of the Lions’ victory on the sideline with a concussion.
Young ready and waiting
Of top concern to Clifford and the Lions offense is the return of defensive end Chase Young to the Buckeyes lineup.
Projected as one of the top picks in this spring’s NFL draft, Young sat out the last two games with a suspension for receiving improper benefits — a loan from a family friend that he paid back.
The two games were against division cellar-dwellers Maryland and Rutgers. So Young has had plenty of time to rest up and prepare for the Lions.
“That one timed up nicely, didn’t it?” Franklin deadpanned. “He’s obviously impressive. You watch the tape, and he just jumps off the tape at you. Before the suspension, people were talking about him for the Heisman. I think we all realize for us to sit here and think you’re going to stop these types of players, you’re not. And we have to understand that and match that.
“We’re not going to go in there and shut them out. It’s not going to happen. They’re going to deliver a blow, and we’re going to deliver one back.”
It was Young who delivered the final blow last season, destroying Penn State’s final fourth-down play near midfield to clinch Ohio State’s win at Beaver Stadium.
Infirmary report
Penn State has had mostly good fortune on the injury front this season, but the offense has some major question marks coming into today.
Wideout KJ Hamler left last week’s win over Indiana in the first quarter with an apparent head or neck injury and did not return. He and running back Noah Cain, who has sat out all but two drives over the last three games with a lower-body injury are considered game-time decisions.
On Friday afternoon, FOX 43 in the Susquehanna Valley reported that starting center Michal Menet had suffered an undisclosed injury and may not be available today. Menet did make the trip to Columbus along with Hamler and Cain.
If Menet can’t go, expect Mike Miranda to shift from right guard to center with C.J. Thorpe starting at guard.