Opening statement: Thank you guys for covering Penn State football and being here. I also want to take a minute before we get into all the specifics about the game to take a minute and thank our Penn State grounds crew, as well as OPP and everybody else. They don't get enough credit. They don't get enough pats on the back. They don't get enough thank you's. We got 18 inches of snow this this week and you'd never know it based on the playing surface. Now, I'm not talking about the stands; I'm talking about the playing surface, field, it was phenomenal. We brought all those guys in the locker room, and the team thanked them and, and they broke the team down. There are people like that all over Penn State's campus. There are people like that all over college campuses across the United States, and they don't get enough pats on the back and thank you's. So, I just want to take a minute and let them know that they are appreciated. Our field was phenomenal. Our practice fields are always phenomenal. And I wanted to make sure we took some time to do that.
Talking about the game, most importantly, we won the turnover battle. We had that turnover early, which I'm glad I had this mask on so people couldn't read my lips or my face. But we won the turnover battle, which was significant. I thought that was a big part early in the game that caused problems. Not only do we turn the ball over, but the one play touchdown. It looks great, but then our defense is right back on the field. So that that created some challenges.
Then we had the return for a touchdown on special teams, as well, and our defense was right back on the field. So that created some challenges for us. And then the explosive play battle, we were able to win that as well and get to 15 percent. We usually get a game like that early on in the season. I think that's really important to get guys in the game, to be able to evaluate them and to build on it. And I think it also creates a healthy locker room, the more guys you can get on the field and play. And again, we've done that for a while. So, it was good to have a game like that and see a bunch of guys get in whether they're young guys or veterans that have been doing a lot of the dirty work behind the scenes.
So, I thought that was great complementary football, offense, defense and special teams, again, having each other's backs. I think after the first nine minutes of the game we gave up 75 yards after that, so the adjustments were good. I appreciate everybody covering Penn State football. I appreciate the resiliency that this team showed: the players, the coaches, the staff, the trainers, everybody, under challenging circumstances. To end the regular season with a with a 1-0 is a positive, especially after the last couple weeks.
Q: Can you let us know if you have made a decision on a bowl game and how that decision will come about?
A: There's going to be a meeting after this where I'm going to get together with the captains and the seniors. I had a meeting with them earlier in the week to tell them that we were going to be focused on being 1-0 this week and then we would meet again after this was over and give them time to meet with their positions, shower up and then give me time to get back in there and have a meeting with them and come up with our plan. So that that will happen after this, and we'll obviously communicate that.
Q: Why did you think it was important to get Jahan Dotson involved in the game so early and so often?
A: It's not like it was different this week. It was more just based on what they were doing defensively and things that we had in the passing game to protect our running game. That was really an RPO where we had a run called, and if they gave us access on the perimeter that we could throw it. He made a really nice catch and knifed up the field, their guy missed the initial tackle, and then he can make something happen afterwards. It just really kind of plays out like that if you run the offense the way you should be. No matter what offense you run, you know the defense is going to give you something and you've got to have enough answers in your offense to be able to take advantage of it. The last couple weeks we've been able to get our running game going, which opens up the play action pass, which opens up the RPOs. And then also, depending on how people are going to play you, whether they're a man or zone team. If they're a man team, then you've got to be able to take advantage of that with man concepts. Where if they're a zone team, they're going to give you access that allows you to throw some of those, whether they're hitches or what we call hinges or whatever it may be. Then you're able to get more guys involved, so I thought that was good.
Q: I think everyone can appreciate your family situation. Can you envision a situation where the team goes to a bowl, but you work remotely to be with your family?
A: Based on the dates that I think are available out there, I don't think so, because I think the turnaround is going to be fairly fast. It's going to be a week or two weeks from the way I understand it. As you know, we already got kind of the bowl schedules mapped out, so we're ready to move quickly. So, no, I don't see that, because the other problem is whenever I do get to go see my family I've got to quarantine. Our doctor that deals with our family from a sickle cell perspective, whenever I get to go see my family, I've got to do a five-day quarantine before I go. And then, obviously, we've got the factors coming back. Not only do I have to do it for Penn State when I would come back to be around the team, I have to go see my wife. I've got Fumi's rules and I've got Wayne's rules, and I'm not in charge of either one of them. So, I don't see how that that's going to happen. I do know there's a lot of conversations about how I'm going to be able to try to get my family back here. The administration has been really good about some discussions that we've had about that, how I'm going to get to see them and then how can we support them in this region based on her sickle cells. I wish it was that simple, where I could just go and check in with them and see them for a short period of time. I just don't see how that would work on either end from a family perspective or a Penn State perspective. This is going to continue for a little bit longer.
Q: Earlier in the year when you guys were going to lose a streak, I think Ben asked you how are you? You said I can't say I'm good. After everything, how would you say you are now? How are you feeling now? How do you about the team? How are you feeling personally after all this?
A: Obviously right after when, you work hard at having success so right after a win you do feel, you know, a sense of joy. I think somebody asked me earlier in the year, when was the last time you felt joy? You know, so you do get that sense of satisfaction for the players, that sense of satisfaction for the team. But the way my mind works, I'm already kind of on to the next task, it's just kind of how I'm wired. I think it sometimes drives everybody crazy, but I do think it's an important trait that I've kind of always had, kind of on to the next task that needs to happen. But I am I am very proud of everybody for battling through it. It's hard to do this under normal circumstances, and even more now. I'm also really proud how we've kept everybody healthy. We're one of only a handful of teams in the Big Ten and in the country that didn't miss a game during the season, no postponements, none of those types of things. We did have issues with false positives. We had a bunch of them this week. We're up to 66, I think, false positives. That's people missing practice, that's people missing work. We had a bunch this week. And that puts you on an emotional roller coaster as well. So, at the end of the day, I'm proud of how we handled it. You know the whole big picture and keeping these guys safe and healthy and then finding a way to battle back as the season went on. So, trying to keep all those things in perspective, got a lot of work to do. It was a lot of distractions this season with the season starting and then being canceled and then coming back up, and all the protocols that we have that are different in the Big Ten compared to other conferences, states handle things different, universities handle things different. So, there's a lot and I also want to try to get back to these freshmen and transfers of getting back to understand what a normal Penn State experience is like. You've got these freshmen, this is all they know, and this is not, this is not what Penn State is like. I want them to feel what this town is like on a game weekend. There's energy and there's a buzz and the restaurants are doing great and the bars are doing great and the hotels are doing great and it's Happy Valley. I want people to experience that. And for our freshmen, they haven't experienced that. And our sophomores, they've only experienced that 50 percent of the time. Even my staff, I've got staff that have a comment of never seen what this place is normally like, so I'm trying to remind everybody of that as much as I possibly can. I don't know whether I answered your question. I can't remember even what your question was. I've been talking for a while. I hope I answered it.
Q: You've mentioned in the previous answer of dealing with, you know, the COVID, just all of the things that go with holding this together during the course of a pandemic. If my numbers are correct, you and Rutgers are the only two programs in the Big Ten to play the nine-game season. Just want to know if you could just kind of speak to the sacrifices of your coaching staff and your players that made this possible. Also, along with just like the community and just, you know, pulling all of this off.
A: Yeah, there's so many people that worked hard to get this to get this done. But at the end of the day, it's about the people following the policies put in place, the procedures put in place, and to ask 18- to 23-year-old guys to do it and do it on a consistent basis. I know they're sick of me, tell them to put their mask on or social distance or this or that. It's just like, constant, constant. And I thought we had a really good plan, and we had a really good policy and at the end of the day people made the choices to follow it, not only when they were with us, but when they're away from us. And that same thing with the staff, you know, not only did the players have to sacrifice, but the staff had to sacrifice. I think about the student managers, I think about the student trainers and the sacrifices that they had to make with their roommates. With our staffs' children and wives that are going to school and those types of things. Everybody knows, I mean, everybody's dealing with this and it's been challenging on everybody. But then you try to do that while also running a major college football program and all the demands that come from that, and all the demands that come with being a student at one of the most respected academic institutions in the country. It's been a lot. It's been a lot. I'm appreciative that we've been able to, up to this point, knock on wood, handle this thing pretty well.
Q: So, starting off slow on the defense, and then really cracking down as the game goes on has kind of been a trend throughout the season. What do you think the reason for the slow starts are and what has really helped you dial things up as the game goes on?
A: Well, I think part of the issue is, you know, you're planning for the guy that's at quarterback that's been playing pretty much the whole year and the other guy, [Isaiah Williams], had been more of a rotational type guy. So, all the film, all the planning is kind of based on that. He made some plays. He's a really good player, he was one of the most highly recruited players in the country. And they made some plays early on. And again, the turnovers, the turnover on offense didn't help either, but once we were able to kind of outnumber them into box and be a little bit more consistent with our gap responsibility, and then try to make them one dimensional that helped us. But again, I thought the fact that the offense was able to put points on the board, have the defense's back, and then we were able to slow him down and make some plays on special teams and play more complimentary football, but the other thing guys is I mean we are, just like a lot of programs in the country right now, we are razor thin. I mean, got a lot of guys out. And I know I didn't get the question about you know why guys didn't play but that's a lot, that's a big factor in all this. A lot of guys that were held out, all the guys that you guys would normally ask me, were still held out for different medical reasons and medical purposes. So, we're thin, very, very thin at certain positions. And that plays a factor in it as well. Guys are playing a lot more reps than they normally would play under normal circumstances. So more on their plate, more responsibility, more things that they need to know from a game plan perspective. It's been very different, but I also know that's the case a lot of places in the country.
