It's a bittersweet day for Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Sean Clifford, who led Penn State football to a big 35-21 win over the Utah Utes Monday night in the Rose Bowl in his final game for the team.

Clifford got a huge standing ovation from Penn State football fans in attendance as he walked off the field late in the contest, with the Nittany Lions already had the win virtually in the bag.

The 24-year-old Clifford had a fantastic performance for Penn State against Utah. He ended up with 279 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns with zero interceptions on 16 of 21 pass completions. He had zero turnovers in the game.

Only a touchdown and an extra point separated Penn State football and the Utes at the start of the fourth quarter but Clifford came through with a touchdown pass to wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith early in the period to give the Nittany Lions much-needed breathing room. After making a stop on the other end of the field, Penn State would score once again with a Kaytron Allen touchdown run to give the Nittany Lions a 14-point lead with 10 minutes left in regulation.

Penn State closed the curtains on its 2022 college football season with an 11-2 record overall — the most the program had since 2019 when it also had an 11-2 slate.

Clifford, who started his college football career in 2018, is Penn State football's all-time leader in passing yards after surpassing Trace McSorely in 2022. Clifford passed for 10,382 passing yards to go with 84 touchdowns in Nittany Lions uniform.