Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Up to this point in his career, I have supported Darryl Clark's ability to lead the Lion's offense and given him the credit when I felt it was deserved. I will also admit I have been critical of Clark at times when I felt he made mistakes and questioned some of his basic fundamentals (setting his feet, checking off receivers, etc.). Unfortunately, college football analysts and couch-potatoes across the nation don't bleed blue and white, nor do they always see things the way we do.
Loyal PSU fans know how much Clark has meant to the Lions since he took over the reins from Anthony Morelli, partly due to the fact that Morelli was just that bad. Kind of like the first time you experienced HD, it made you realize how much you were missing all along.
Saturday's game against the Buckeyes just may be Clark's last chance to show the nation what he can do. As much as I hate to stoop to the level of the naysayers who constantly question Penn State's strength of schedule and lack of quality wins, it is hard not to.
Clark is still looking for that signature win. You could argue that statement as he has consistently put up numbers comparable to the best in the country while leading his team to a Big Ten Championship and potentially 2 BCS bowl games.
In 2008, Clark delivered exceptional performances against Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State. So far in 2009, Clark displayed his ability to deliver once again with road wins at Illinois, Michigan, and Northwestern.
Clark's only downfall so far, or at least as perception goes, has been his performance against ranked teams during nationally televised games. We all know the '08 and '09 Iowa stories, and last year's trip to Columbus was mostly a wash as he left the game early with a concussion and Pat Devlin led the Lions on their game-winning drive to defeat the Buckeyes 13-7.
Although Clark performed well in the Rose Bowl against a stacked USC defense, his efforts went unnoticed as USC put up 31 points prior to halftime.
A big-time performance this Saturday against a nationally recognized Buckeye defense would quiet the naysayers and show that he is for real. A lousy performance will most definitely secure the negative perception that he cannot deliver in the clutch. Yes the Lions could still go on to a decent bowl game in which Clark will probably throw for 267 yards and 3 TD's, but it really won't matter.
Clark must deliver this Saturday, and it wouldn't hurt to do it in style. A big time performance against this Buckeye defense would undoubtedly catch the nation's attention and just might strike some debate in the Heisman race. Time will tell, but I'm pulling for him in the worst way. We all know what Clark is capable of, only now is his chance to show everyone else, because on Saturday, it may be his last.
2 Comments:
I always try to figure out who is writing before I get to the bottom. As soon as HD was mentioned, it was pretty easy to figure out.
I thought it was Jason until that point. Even after I read it I just figured that obsession with HD must run in the Albright family.
Albright, I'm glad you mentioned how well Clark played in the Rose Bowl. This has really been overlooked by everyone, and you can't really blame people since Penn State got beat so badly. But he played a great game against what people were saying was one of hte best defenses in college history. Now I've heard a lot of arguments about whether or not USC let up in that game after they got a big lead, and whatever the case may be, there is NO WAY that the DEFENSE let up at all. They wanted to keep that reputation and cement themselves as an all-time unit, so you can bet those 11 guys were playing their hardest trying to keep PSU out of the end zone, and they failed to do so.
With that being said, I'm not so sure the offensive game plan will even allow Clark to have a huge day, but I hope so.
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