By all accounts, Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark has reacted positively to every challenge he’s faced since arriving in State College in 2005. He came to PSU as an academic non-qualifier but he got his grades in order, became eligible, waited his turn for two seasons and then earned the starting spot late last summer following a highly competitive battle with Pat Devlin.

But Clark is now facing a new hurdle. The Nittany Lions suffered a heartbreaking 24-23 setback at Iowa and it was Clark’s first loss as the starter. The Youngstown, Ohio native struggled at Kinnick Stadium, which included an interception in the fourth quarter that the Hawkeyes turned into the game-winning field goal. And Clark took it very, very hard.

“This tested my will,” Clark said on Tuesday. “I did some soul searching on Sunday. The past couple games I really didn’t come to the party. We have two games left. What am I going to do to help this team? Am I going to step it up or just going to be mediocre, like I’ve been?

“It would be unacceptable for it to continue.”

Even though he admitted that there were countless mistakes committed by the Lions as a team, Clark shouldered most of the blame for what happened.

“I went through my little episode, where I was really hurt.” he said. “I talked to my dad. He let me know that everything is going to be all right.

“He doesn’t just sugarcoat it just because I’m his son. He said there were some mistakes, some bad throws made, but at the same time there were mistakes all over the place, so you can’t put everything on your shoulders the way I did.

“Naturally, as the quarterback and the way the game ended, you take it out on yourself. That is when he stepped in and consoled me.”

Clark needs to move past this, the first real adversity he’s faced as a key member of the team. He will have plenty opportunities to play his way out of this funk against a porous Indiana defense on Saturday. A win there and another the following week against Michigan State will give Clark the distinction of being just the third quarterback to guide Penn State to a Big Ten championship.

“We are prepared for every single game,” said Clark. “It’s just a matter of getting this damn thing done, pardon my language.”

He is clearly frustrated. But the sooner Clark is able to come to terms with what happened in Iowa, the sooner he’ll be able to focus on finishing out the season with a title and a berth in the Rose Bowl. – NEIL GEOGHEGAN.