STATE COLLEGE Daryll Clark has just three games to go as Penn State quarterback, and while the aftermath of the Nittany Lions' 24-7 defeat to Ohio State Saturday at Beaver Stadium might be a harsh time to assess his legacy, the defeat provided plenty of fresh evidence.

Even though Clark has a 19-4 career record with Indiana, Michigan State, and a bowl to go, he's gained a reputation of not being able to win the big game. You can point to two Iowa losses, a Rose Bowl defeat, and now Saturday's game against Terrelle Pryor, a sophomore the Nittany Lions recruited two years ago.

"I don't know about that, but I know for a fact that I gave it my all," said Clark, who threw for the same number of yards as Pryor (125) on Saturday, but didn't make any of the big plays in the face of stiff and constant pressure from Ohio State's defensive line.

"I don't give up until the last play. The numbers will show up and that is something that will hang over my head unless we finish the season the right way, which I'm confident we'll do," said Clark.

Part of this isn't Clark's fault. The Nittany Lions' lousy non-conference schedule the last two years gave him chances to pad his stats and reach the upper echelons of Penn State career passing leaders, but no chance to add any big wins to his resume. Ten years from now, who will remember him beating Syracuse twice and an underrated Oregon State once?

Clark's signature victory so far would probably be two weeks ago at Michigan, in which he threw four touchdowns as the Nittany Lions won there for the first time since 1996. His four-touchdown, 341-yard passing effort in last year's regular-season finale, a 49-18 win vs. Michigan State that clinched the Rose Bowl, was pretty good too.

But his record against other elite or big-name quarterbacks is lacking. He's 1-1 against Pryor, and we're going to give him credit here for the win last year at Ohio State that he started but Pat Devlin finished with the go-ahead score after Clark got hurt. USC's Mark Sanchez, a first-round pick and New York Jets starter, outplayed Clark in the Rose Bowl. We'll just consider Iowa's Ricky Stanzi a roadblock.

Clark's team did beat four-year starter Curtis Painter last year at Purdue. He has two wins over Illinois' eternal prospect Juice Williams. Syracuse's Greg Paulus has the name, but not the game.

Indiana and Michigan State will provide Ben Chappell and Kirk Cousins, respectively, as counterparts. Maybe Clark will get to face someone big in a bowl game, though it may not be a BCS one after Saturday's defeat.

"I'm very confident in myself and the leaders of this football team," said Clark. "We'll go through this and continue to move on. There's still a lot to play for, and next week is the last time I'll see this field with the other seniors."

And he'll soon go down in the annals of Penn State quarterbacks, not with Kerry Collins and Todd Blackledge, but probably in the next tier. That's a nice finish for a likeable stand-up guy who has always been a good honest interview and taken the blame for any poor results.

For the Big Ten era, I would put him behind only Collins and Michael Robinson, who led the Nittany Lions to their most satisfying seasons in the last 20 years in 1994 and 2005. The team improved with Clark after two four-loss seasons with Anthony Morelli. I would put Clark above him and Zack Mills, Matt Senneca, Rashard Casey, Kevin Thompson, Mike McQueary, Wally Richardson, and John Sacca going back in order.

Things could change a little, but that puts Clark third in the Big Ten era behind Collins, whom he probably had no chance of catching, and Robinson, whom he could have joined with a better November and bowl.

That's No. 3 out of 10 quarterbacks the past two decades. That's pretty good for a guy Joe Paterno has said doesn't receive enough credit.

Perhaps it also should have been better.

Brigandi is sports editor at The Sun-Gazette. He may be reached at bbrigandi@sungazette.com.