How many more games will Penn State win this season?

ALTOONA, Pa. -- If Sean Clifford can return quickly -- meaning before the Ohio State game on Oct. 30 -- there are plenty of reasons to believe Penn State could still compete for a Big Ten title and College Football Playoff berth this season.

But what if Clifford is out for an extended period, or worst-case scenario, the rest of the season? How many more games will the Nittany Lions win if he can't play and Ta'Quan Roberson remains the starting quarterback?

It's a fascinating question, really, given that Penn State would be the No. 2 team in the country right now had it held on to beat Iowa on Saturday.

With Clifford, you'd think Penn State (5-1) could get to 10 wins or more.

Without Clifford, one has to wonder if the Lions can win even two more games.

The schedule, as everyone knows, is rough. Penn State still has:

Oct. 23: vs. Illinois

Oct. 30: at No. 6 Ohio State

Nov. 6: at Maryland

Nov. 13: vs. No. 8 Michigan

Nov. 20: vs. Rutgers

Nov. 27: at No. 10 Michigan State

Even with Clifford, it's possible Penn State could lose two or three of those games. Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State are good teams.

But if Clifford can't play?

You'd think the Lions can beat Illinois at Beaver Stadium, regardless of who's at quarterback. If they can't ... wow. That would be brutal.

Based on what we saw from Roberson at Iowa, can we be certain that Penn State would beat anybody else on the remaining schedule? Their defense would give them a shot, and if they can win, you'd think it would have to be in low-scoring games.

The game at Maryland and at home vs. Rutgers would be possibilities. But by no means would either be a given unless Roberson shows drastic improvement.

The other three games are against top 10 teams, and the view here is that Penn State would lose all three. The game at Ohio State could get really ugly if Roberson is the starting QB.

Here's the hit that apparently caused the undisclosed injury to Clifford at Iowa.

There's really no way to know from that video exactly what the issue is with Clifford. Could it be his back? Ribs? It didn't seem like a concussion or knee injury.

Clifford made a cryptic post Monday on Instagram that had Penn State fans busy trying to decipher what his status could be.

The text from the post read:

"In life, moments will come and go. Trials will come and go. It's the memories with the people around you that will live forever. Time to create more memories."

Ummmm ... OK.

(By the way: The #BTB apparently stands for back to business in this case, although the street slang version apparently means what Darryl from "The Office" says in the tweet picture.)

I'm not in the mind reading business, so I'll admit I have no idea if what Clifford wrote is good news or bad news. It seems like good news, if #BTB means back to business. But if he's healthy, why not just come out and say something simple like, "I'll be back."

Whatever the case, it's clear that Penn State needs Clifford to have a chance to compete for a Big Ten title or even win many more games.

Maybe Roberson is a lot better than what he showed at Iowa. Maybe he can put together some good drives if the offensive line isn't getting eight false start penalties. Maybe Mike Yurcich can devise a game plan that maximizes the young man's abilities. Maybe we all will find out that James Franklin didn't make a mistake by not bringing in a transfer quarterback.

If so, then maybe Penn State can still win a lot of games with Roberson.

But that's a big if and a lot of maybes.