Penn State Football
Defensive Student-Athlete Quotes
vs. Ohio State – September 29, 2018
Koa Farmer | LB | Gr./Sr.
Q: It seemed like in the second half Ohio State wanted to get their skill players in space. How do you think you guys defended that?
A: No question, we need to tackle better in space. I think Ohio State did a great job doing that and that was the adjustment they made and it hurt us. We need all 11 guys getting to the ball and we need to tackle.
Q: Was there something they were taking advantage of or was it just well-timed play calling, the screen plays specifically?
A: They just had great play calling to be honest. For me, I wasn't expecting them to do what they were doing and that's why we failed. That's why it's so important for us to look at the film so we can expect this, so we know what the offense is running.
Jan Johnson | LB | Gr./Jr.
Q: Record crowd tonight, what were your thoughts on the atmosphere?
A: It was great. Having them (the fans) in the first half, they were screaming and yelling and it helped a lot. Having a crowd there just makes a huge difference.
Q: How do you think you guys played defensively for the first three quarters?
A: We played pretty well. I still think we shouldn't have given up that touchdown even with the sudden change and instead hold them to a field goal or something less, but we played the way I think we needed to play and I think we just have to close it out.
Q: How do you think your quarterback played?
A: I think Trace played well. He made plays, running people over and throwing his body around, and he threw the ball where it needed to be. I think he played as well as he could've played.
Amani Oruwariye | CB | Gr./Sr.
Q: Did you hear the coach's comments? He said that being comfortable with being great is not good enough. Do you think you guys were comfortable with being great before this?
A: I think he [Coach Franklin] is referring to the fact that little details, you know like, just the little things that might make us uncomfortable to get us out of our comfort zone. Not even in the game, in practice and stuff like that. Throughout our lives we have to be able to do that to become elite because we are a great team. I know we are, and we just have to take the next step.
Q: When you look at this game, what do you think happened in the fourth quarter?
A: I mean, we fought, we just didn't wrap up the tackles in the fourth quarter that we needed to make. They made plays. I give them credit. They made some plays and they are a good team, but we just need to tackle and we just need to finish.
Q: What are the emotions like in the locker room right now and how do you guys carry forward tomorrow?
A: Guys are down because we put so much work in for this game and every game. It's tough because we work so hard and to fall short by one point the past two years sucks. But we have leaders on our team and we are going to bounce back and keep pushing the message that we have to keep playing and we have our next game. 1-0 mentality. We have a good chance to win the rest of our season so we just have to do that.
Garrett Taylor | S | Sr./Jr.
Q: Coach brought up going from great to elite, and that it's the little things. In your opinion, what do you guys have to do to get there?
A: I think everyone needs to take whatever they are worrying on, and work that much harder. We talked about sacrifice. If you think your sacrificing then you obviously need to do more. If you think you're working hard, if you think you have a great work ethic, you have to take that next step and do a little bit more because those are going to be the differences.
Q: We just saw a very emotional James Franklin, was he that emotional back there?
A: Yes, Coach Franklin is always that emotional, and us players we see that but all we can do is respect it because we know he cares about us. He has our best interest in his heart and he really cares.
Robert Windsor | DT | Sr./Jr.
Q: What made it tough to get Dwayne Haskins behind the line of scrimmage?
A: I feel like we got good pressure on him, but we didn't bring him down as much because they like the quick game. They don't hold the ball and look for the deep ball. They throw those little quick passes that you guys saw, so I feel like that was where it was hard to get sacks. We were hitting him, but he was just getting it off because he was just throwing those little quick little passes.
Q: Does that create frustration?
A: Not really, it is just the type of game we play and we just have to react and defend to that.
Q: You get the bye now. Is this a good time or a bad time for it?
A: Well I think anytime is a good time. We just take our bye, recover and just learn from this. I think it is good we will have time to learn from this and grow from this.
