Clifford’s four TDs lead No. 14 Penn State past Chippewas

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — James Franklin took a few moments to look over the stats after his team’s latest win.

Franklin’s No. 14 Nittany Lions beat Central Michigan in nearly every column on Saturday, but after Penn State’s 33-14 win, Franklin wasn’t satisfied.

“In terms of the critical areas, I wouldn’t say it felt like this, but we won all of them,” Franklin said.

Sean Clifford completed 22 of 34 passes for 217 yards and accounted for four touchdowns for the Nittany Lions, who forced four turnovers to keep the game out of reach.

The Chippewas were still able to drive the ball on the ground and in the air, racking up 363 yards. Mistakes kept them out of the end zone for much of the day, however.

Tight end Brenton Strange caught two touchdowns and wideout Mitchell Tinsley caught one. Clifford and Kaytron Allen added touchdown runs for the Nittany Lions (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) who steadily pulled away.

Penn State players were hoping for something more demonstrative with Northwestern up next and a trip to No. 4 Michigan looming on Oct. 15.

“There’s a certain standard in this program,” defensive tackle PJ Mustipher said. “I told the guys after the game that we’ve got to come out hot, we’ve got to come out better.”

Penn State’s offense did that.

Clifford marched Penn State down the field and hit Tinsley over the middle from 5 yards out to start the scoring. He got another shot on a short field when Zakee Wheatley picked off Daniel Richardson on Central Michigan’s eighth play of the day and returned it to the Chippewa 15.

Clifford needed just three plays from there to find Strange on a 4-yard quick out that made it 14-0.

The Chippewas (1-3) got their offense going in the second quarter. Richardson capped an 11-play drive by