Opening Statement:
Like always, I want to thank the media for coming out and covering Penn State Football. I truly appreciate it and I know our players do as well. I want to thank the fans, this is always a challenging week for us over Thanksgiving break, obviously we're down 45,000 students. This is always a challenging weekend because of that, but we get unbelievable support, unbelievable support. I think for the year we averaged 107,000 fans for the year. It's special, you know, even today, most programs in the country would die for the attendance that we get on this Thanksgiving weekend, so that was awesome. I just thought we played really good complementary football. Offense, defense, and special teams all made plays when we needed to early on in the game. I thought their punter was kind of the MVP, swinging field position, but we were able to make some adjustments offensively. We did start slow, but we were able to finish strong. We made plays when we needed to, and we were able to mix the run and the pass defensively. We continued to make plays all year long and played very, very consistently. Special teams obviously, the turnover late was big. Our tight ends had a big night for us. That's been a theme pretty much all year long. I thought [Sean Clifford] did what he typically does, he manages the game extremely well and gets us in the right runs, gets us in the right protections and makes the plays when he needs to. It was also great to see [KeAndre Lambert-Smith] have a big night, big touchdown catch and obviously a touchdown throw, I thought that was a big-time throw. Overall, good night for us. I'm really proud. You think about where this team started, in terms of how people talked about us in preseason, to where we finished, I think inside the top 10 at the end of the regular season and then we still have one game left to play. We're looking forward to seeing where we'll end up so again, appreciate you guys.
Q: James, how would you describe your offense's response after Michigan State cut it to 21-16, that 75-yard drive, and can you describe what went into the thinking on going forward? On fourth and two from the 12-yard line?
A: Obviously that was a huge drive in the game. They had gotten momentum. We were able to get it down to a one score game obviously. So being able to answer there was a big-time drive. Not only did we go the length of the field, but we took a ton of time off the clock as well, which was really valuable. Then going for it on fourth and two, I don't know necessarily if the coaching manual would have said that that was the right thing to do, but how the game was playing out and missing some field goals early in the game, I just thought that was the right thing to do to be aggressive there. That package that we've been using all year out of 23 personnel, a lot of people call it T formation, has been really good to us and obviously we have some variety of things that we can do out of it whether it's runs or whether it's play action pass. I just actually, with Brian Tripp on the radio, just actually watched it, it could have been even better because we ended up double teaming the one guy and left the safety high and it ended up working out well. We really could have had them all blocked. That was our four against their three, and just from a numbers game worked out really well. It's like we talked about all the time when I come in here. You guys always think the fourth downs that work were good decisions and the 4000 that don't work were bad decisions and I agree with you. That one worked so it was a good decision.
Q: James, you talked on Tuesday about the senior class and everything that it's gone through, what did it mean to you to be able to finish the home portion of its career kind of on this stuff?
A: Yeah, their leadership has been unbelievable all year long. You know, the vets in that locker room. I thought the captains were unbelievable all year long, tremendous communication. Their transparency was great. And they were aligned with the coaches, and I got really good feedback from them, that doesn't mean I always necessarily agreed with them, but it was good for me to hear their feedback so ultimately, I can make the best decisions for the organization. They were great and those guys played well, and then they were thoughtful during the week with the things that they said to their teammates and things that they said that our coaching staff. They are really good, and I'm proud of them to be able to get this type of win late in the season, and I think that's probably the biggest thing is we just kept getting better all year long.
Q: What will this next week be like for you guys? Can you walk us through that period now instead of the opportunity to go out and recruit and how important will it be to be able to maximize that time with your players here between now and the bowl game?
A: Yeah, I probably have to check my phone to tell you the schedule, it is literally just going out right now. We always have those things mapped out ahead of time. We actually went over it with the captains last week to make sure they were on the same page with us. They'll get a little bit of time off here over the next couple days. Tomorrow is the first Sunday they'll have off. There's a new kind of transport portal period where things shut down where we normally would go right on the road recruiting and we'll be in the office for three or four days meeting with all the players and making sure we're all on the same page, finding out what bowl we're going to and then we'll get started practices before we know necessarily who we're playing ball with. We'll have practices and then get into the bowl prep, but I don't I don't have all the details and the specifics for you. But we'll communicate with you next time.
Q: James, you mentioned during the week about the conference lobbying for this team. I'm just wondering what the process would be now between you and the administration.
A: I'm going to focus on meeting with our players getting this film graded and recruiting. Pat will handle all these strings. He's got tremendous experience doing it. The Big Ten will do everything they possibly can to help all the teams within the conference, getting the best situations we possibly can. There were some interesting games last week, some interesting games this week that impact us, put us in a more favorable position, but we'll see how it plays out.
Q: How important was it to get Keandre going early with the pass and then he had a touchdown catch and he made a good catch on the plate with the sticks there. How important was it to get him involved?
A: It hasn't always been easy for him, but he's been resilient and battled through it. I think this bowl prep here is going to be important as well. We need to continue to build confidence with Sean and the receivers so that we can go into the bowl game and be as explosive as we possibly can in the passing game. There are things that we have to get cleaned up. Parker is an unbelievable player and not having him makes an impact. So, some guys are stepping up and I think Keandre is a great example that he was able to do it. He's got a ton of ability and I'm really excited about the next step for him.
Q: Abdul Carter was all over the place, he seems to be making timely plays as well. You've often called for game records on your defense, with the way you recruit and develop. Has he reached that status here at the end of his freshman season?
A: I'll let you guys decide that. I'm proud of him. He's gotten better every single week. He's got a ton of natural physical ability that he's getting more and more confident within the scheme, which not only is helping our defense play better, but it's also putting him in position to make more and more plays, but his ability to burst and chase the quarterback or burst and chase running backs on the perimeter or within the box, it's impressive. He's got the ability to find the ball and when he gets there, he's got bad intentions. So, it's been fun to watch his development from the beginning of the year to now.
Q: How important is the new year six bowl anymore? As opposed to the third tier to you.
A: Obviously you want to try to go to the biggest games you possibly can go to. Has it changed it? Yeah, I think your point is a fair one. I think that's why there's so much talk about the expansion and the importance of the expansion. I think there's been stuff that's been put out, if they go to a 12-team model, like everybody says is going to happen. You know how many times we would have had a chance to be in there. But yeah, I get your point. I think it's still important to go to the biggest and the best games you possibly can in the postseason, and whether that is the New Years six bowl game or whatever, there's still value in it, but I understand your point.
Q: You get Joey Porter back but then Kalen King is a really big gain too, what have both of those guys meant this year?
A: I think we can make an argument that we have two of the best if not three of the best corners in the country. Kalen is playing consistent all year long. Joey was playing as good as any corner in the country and then obviously as you guys know, he had a medical situation which we announced what it was. I'm proud of the fact that he was able to come back. I wouldn't say he was full go today, but he was good enough to play and was cleared by the doctors and he wanted to get out there and help his team. So, I think that speaks volumes about who he is and how much he loves the game. I'm proud of those guys and obviously when Kalen's in there and Joey's playing the way he's capable of playing when he's healthy, it allows us to do a lot of things defensively, load the box, stop the run, challenge throws. It's a talented duo on the perimeter for us, which we have that type of confidence, but not just them. They're willing tacklers. That's not always the case.