Opening Statement: "In this game, like the other games we have won, we dominated what we call the critical statistics. The drive start battle, we won. The turnover battle, we won. The penalty battle, we won. And the explosive play battle, we won. That to me is the overall story of the game. This Rutgers team, against a Northwestern team that's playing in the Big Ten Championship game, we watched on tape how they played tough. They've been playing really good on defense. But some guys that stood out to us, Micah Parsons continues to do some good things for us. Blake Gillikin had a 67-yard punt, which was huge and then had a 70-yard one. John Reid had his fifth career interception. Trace McSorely, obviously the most important stat you have, is the all-time leader in terms of wins at the quarterback position. Pretty impressive. Garrett Taylor continues to produce as a first-year starter. And Robert Windsor is really putting together a nice second half of the season. I thought the two-minute drive before the end of the half was something I'm really proud of. We spend a lot of time working on situational football. That was excellent. I thought the drive at the end of the game was pretty impressive. 6:57 on the clock when we got the ball. We did a great job of working the clock and running the ball. You don't want to fumble it. We've got to get that cleaned up. But ultimately we ate the clock up and that was a positive.
You think back from a historical perspective. The 1988 Rutgers team, Penn State was 14th in the country at that time and lost. We talk all the time about respecting every opponent, fearing none. We're fortunate to get a win and head in the right direction. We'll enjoy this for a couple hours and then move on to a significant week next week, honoring this senior class. We want them to end it on a positive note because of all they've meant to Penn State. I hope the stadium is sold out for another good Big Ten opponent coming into our place. All these seniors, they deserve that stadium to be sold out and be sent out the right way. It's going to be an emotional day. We all owe these seniors a world of gratitude and I hope everyone comes and shows their respect. "
On offensive performance today: "I thought the running game, we did some good things, I think we are still a little off in the passing game, we have to get that cleaned up, we will emphasize some seven on seven drills, pressure some times, missed throw some times, we just are a little bit off in the passing game and that is has been the storyline this season, we have to get that fixed moving forward, i thought we were able to run the ball really well. Miles Sanders battled to get the yards he could get, Trace (McSoreley) was able to do some things as well, we were just a little bit off, but that defense, we have seen it on tape, they played everybody tough and I thought we had some opportunities with our defense, against their offense and we were able to do that. We have to get better in the passing game, the better we get at that, it will open up some holes for the running game."
On Rutgers as a team: "When we saw those guys on the tape, we had a lot of respect for those guys, how hard they played. We did not think this was going to be an easy game, we had to battle and you saw that when they played Northwestern, who is playing in the Big Ten title game. They were trending in the right direction and playing hard."
On defensive momentum after the goal-line stand: "Our defense was playing really good the last couple of weeks, I thought we played fantastic today, we had a chance with them. It was all about the running game with Rutgers, it was about stopping Isaih Pacheco and Raheem Blackshear, we have been good defending teams that are one-dimensional, I think our defense is playing well. The defensive line is playing at a high level."
On slow start to red zone offense: "Overall, I think we are one of the best red zone offenses in the country, you want to finish those type of drives, that is critical. Looking at the big picture, we have been pretty good at coming up with points when we are down there. Even today, we were 4-of-6, we have to score touchdown, but the experience for the kicking game is valuable also."
