Opening Statement
Overall, obviously, I told the guys I was really impressed. The last three games have kind of got back to our identity of finding ways to win. Over the last seven years, we've overcome adversity, we've played great second half football. We've blown people out. We've had comebacks. We've had all different types of wins, and a lot of them. And over the last three weeks, we've gotten back to that identity, so I'm really proud of them.
I'm really proud of the whole program. I will say, it was emotional for me to watch those seniors at the end of the game when game was over. And typically those guys get to walk the stadium and you know, high five all the fans and a lot of times the fans will stay and show support towards them. So to watch those guys walking around an empty stadium was emotional for me.
You look at the game, we won the field-position battle, we had a push on a turnover battle, which the one turnover came from the turnover. We won the penalty battle, we did not win the explosive play battle, so we got to be better there. But I thought we were very explosive in the second half on offense. Obviously special teams came up big for us today. The punt return was huge. I thought we played complimentary football, there's times where the offense wasn't in rhythm and the defense played well, and then you know, there was times where the defense was struggling, then the offense was able to step up. And then same thing on special teams. So I thought we played complimentary football.
I'm proud of those guys, I really am, and we're going to enjoy this one for a few hours. And then hopefully we'll find out at some time, you know, who we're playing. It's going to affect our Sunday preparation, because we usually would be breaking people down tonight so that we can get going and be prepared for our Sunday practice. But obviously we don't know what Sunday and what next week holds yet. So we're waiting to hear from that hopefully sooner rather than later.
Q: What was said in the locker room at halftime? The team obviously seemed to come out and play better in the second half.
A: It's about corrections. It's about making corrections. It's getting everybody on the same page with how they're trying to attack us offensively and defensively and some subtle adjustments that we need to make to play cleaner. It's subtle little things that make the difference. So we were able to get them settled down, make some adjustments.
And then I thought we made some plays on defense, you made some plays on offense, made some plays on special teams. And you build some momentum and you build some confidence and you go from there. So it's not like not like, I said on the radio show just a few minutes ago, it's not like I said, all fireworks in there or anything like that. But we were able to make some adjustments offensively and defensively. You know, the field goal was big. The punt return was big. We did our job, we kicked the ball a little bit better.
We were concerned about their kickoff return guys and their punt return guys, they'd made a bunch of big plays. So, us being able to control the kicks I thought was helpful, too. We played more complimentary football the second half that we did in the first.
Q: I wanted to talk about one of those seniors specifically Shane Simmons seemed to play one of his best games in a Penn State uniform today. He came in as a heralded five- star guy here he is five years later, as a backup. Can you talk about kind of the journey you've seen from him and what he did on the field today? And can you lend any insight as to why Jayson Oweh not available?
A: Yeah, so I'm really proud of Shane. He's had he's had a long journey. Shane visited me, I think going into his eighth-grade year, at Vanderbilt. Him and his family came down for a visit. It was either going to his eighth-grade year going into his ninth-grade year. I've known the family for a long time.
I'm really proud of him, really proud of him. He's done extremely well in school. He's been a huge part of our program over the last five years.
Jayson Oweh was unavailable. If you guys saw the previous week against Rutgers, he had a he had a play where he kind of got banged up. So, he was unavailable. So, all the guys that you didn't see play today, that was the case. They were unavailable based on medical. Our trainers and doctors make those decisions.
But it created opportunity for Shane and Shane did a great job, got a bunch of reps and played well and was physical. And I'm proud of him, I'm really proud of Shane. I'm a big fan of Shane. I always have been I always will be. And he's been a great teammate here for the last five years.
Q: Can you go back to that point in the third quarter where you hold them to a field goal and marched down? I know, that's kind of the complimentary stuff you're talking about. But how big was that after the way the defense struggled in the second quarter?
A: I agree. I think that was a huge, that was a huge drive right there. Holding them to a field goal there - I think they were first-and-goal - and holding them to a field goal, and then the offense being able to do some things.
I think the game could have been different if they if they score right there. The fact that we were able to battle and hold them to three points right there, and then offense was able to come out and answer. We kind of started to chip away at their lead. And, then again, we made some big plays on offense and defense.
We were able to start getting off the field on defense on third down. The problem the first half, defensively, they were just getting way too many yards on first and second down. They were always ahead of the sticks early in the game. But we were able to get them calmed down and make some subtle adjustments and just play better defensive football, gap sound, gap accountable, which was big.
Q: It seems like this team on both sides plays better when it's aggressive. But it also occurred to me, there's been so many moving parts on this team that you don't know quite what you have or don't have until recently. Is that hold any water?
A: Yeah, I think there's probably some of that. Typically, you have a traditional training camp and you learn a little bit about your team. And then you play the first couple games of the season and you learn a little bit more. You start to kind of figure out your identity: we're going to be a coverage team, or we're going to be a pressure team, or we're going to be able to tempo, or throw the ball, or run the ball, or we're pretty balanced, or we're weak in this area so we've got to play to our strengths right now and we've got to work on these things.
Obviously, with the season going the way it went and the decisions that the Big Ten made, and then going Big Ten only and those type of things. With a young football team that we had - I can't say that now, but at the beginning of the season a young football team with very little seniors - and then on top of that all the significant losses that we had, either before the season started or in week one, things changed quickly. How we thought we were going to play with those guys, you take them out of the equation, and we had to play very differently.
It took us a little bit of time to find our rhythm. And I'm proud. That's hard to do.
With everything that's going on in our country and everything that's going on in our community and in college football, the way this this team has stuck together, the way this coaching staff has stuck together, the way we've done it as a group. It doesn't really answer your question, but it's something that I want to state because I just thought of, I talked about the managers and the trainers, and all the people that have allowed us to practice and run our program and the sacrifices that those people have made. The student trainers, the student managers that have been up here and going through the COVID protocols and not seeing their families. I told our team to take a moment and thank those people. I think about the developmental squad or the scout team guys. It's hard to do that under normal circumstances. I'm proud of them. I'm proud of the entire organization and how we've handled tremendous adversity. I'm proud of the entire program, and I'm thankful for the people behind the scenes that have sacrificed so much and allowed this to work.
Q: The two-quarterback usage you used today, do you want to keep using it? Do you think long term that sustainable? Is this what you want to be a part of the offense in 2021, as well?
A: Obviously, I'm not talking about 2021. I'm happy to talk about the Michigan State game or the game that we're going to play next week. But yeah, we've been saying for a while that we've got two quarterbacks that we want to use. I'm glad that we threw Will [Levis] today. I think we can do more of that. We want to be more balanced with how we're using Will and we continue to talk about that, so I was glad to see that happen today. We need to do more of it. I've been saying for weeks that we're going to use both of them in 2020. We've got another game that we've got to figure out how we're going to use them next week, once we figure out who we're playing.
Q: The fight from the players on your team, you're 0-5 then you win three in a row. Today. you're down 21-10 at the half and then you come back. What can you say about the fight and the wherewithal of those guys that they don't ever give up?
A: The resiliency that we have showed, I'm proud of them. It's not something that we've experienced or been through, so to find a way to show that type of heart, to show that type of belief and brotherhood, and stick together and stay together and battle through, I'm very proud of them. I'm very proud of everybody. It's not easy to do. The last three weeks we have found ways to win, which is really what we've done for seven years.
