Opening Statement
First of all, I want to thank you guys for coming out and covering Penn State football like always. I want to thank the fans. We had a great crowd; 110,800 - second-largest crowd in Beaver Stadium history. That was awesome. When you look at the game, I just thought we played really good complementary football, offense, defense and special teams. Obviously, our defense played a suffocating style of D, and were able to get turnovers that were extremely ball-aware, but the other thing is, again, we didn't turn the ball over on offense either. Special teams, I thought we did a really nice job. Obviously, their punter is special. He's a phenomenal punter, so that was challenging. They put us in some tough spots, especially rolling to their right, which to me, whenever you go against a rugby punter and they roll to the right, that punt returner is going to cheat and work that way. Well, then he started kicking it diagonal across the field. I don't know how you really defend that, and then he got the roll. So, that was impressive on their part. Some kind of interesting facts, we only allowed 76 yards in the entire game. That's the 10th fewest in school history. Iowa only had four first downs in the entire game; fourth fewest allowed in Penn State history. Offense had four scoring drives of 10-plus plays, which also went hand-in-hand with a possession time of 45 minutes and 27 seconds, which I've never seen before. We've scored 30 or more points 11 times in a row now- that leads the nation. Nittany Lions have also scored in 28 straight quarters; that's the longest streak in the country. So just a ton of stuff to be proud of. We won the turnover battle, we know how important that stat is. We did not win the explosive-play battle, but I do think we grinded that game out, which when you're playing a team like Iowa, you can't get bored of grinding it out. Going for it on fourth-and-one three times, picking it up. Our third down percentage was better in the second half than the first half. But, their style of defense, they're gonna make you grind it out in the run game. They're not going to give up big plays. They played soft in the secondary, kept everything in front of them. So, would we like to be more explosive? Yes. But I don't know if necessarily that was important in this game, the way it played out. We won the third down battle, we won the sack battle. Again, our defensive line is doing a great job, we had three sacks and a ton of pressures. Not a whole lot of people talk about our offensive line, they did not give up any sacks; that's huge as well. We tied the penalty battle in terms of number, but not yards. We lost it in yards. Then in the field position battle, their punter dominated that stat, so there's some quick facts for you. But again, I appreciate everybody coming out in a less than ideal weather situation, which also magnifies our ball security. So again, appreciate everybody being here. I truly do, and I open up to questions.
Q: Back to the explosive plays, or lack of them, you also had very few turnovers. Is there a direct correlation between maybe not taking as many shots and limiting the turnovers because obviously, it's working for you.
A: I don't know if there's a correlation. I do think we're doing a really good job of respecting the ball in general. We've talked about the ball being the program. When the other team has the ball, we're not happy about it and we're trying to get it back and do everything we can and we've done a good job of that with turnovers. And then, when you're carrying the ball, whoever it is, you're carrying the entire program, and everybody's hopes and dreams within the program are in your hands. So you know, make sure that we're doing a great job in terms of ball security in terms of height and type. But then also, in terms of decision making in the quarterback position, O-line protection of the quarterback's blind side; all those things factor into ball security, so I'm really proud of that. The correlation between the explosive plays, I don't know if there's necessarily that, but I'm pleased with how we're playing overall. I did think we got better this week and there's stuff to build on for next week.
Q: James, you've mentioned a few times your ability on defense to go late in the games, and even when you put in the backups or even third strings to finish strong. Personnel standpoint, where is this Penn State defense based on the decade of defenses you've had? Obviously, Manny is doing a great job leading the group, but from personnel spot to players you've assembled, is this the deepest bunch that you've had at any point?
A: Yeah, I think I've kind of already stated that in the preseason that our depth is better than I remember it any point since I've been here, which is allowing us to play a ton of guys and keep guys fresh. It's also going to help us in fourth quarters. It's going to help us late in the season. I thought it was better this week where we able to get the backups in there and they still held the shut out. Offensively, those guys got some reps. It was a shame because of the penalty. You know, I think that unit would've had a chance to score there without that 15-yard penalty for hands to the face on a pancake block, which was the right call. But yeah, I think our depth is better and it's only getting better because we continue to play a ton of guys.
Q: Coach you mentioned the better third down efficiency in the second half and I think both your points and yards average per play went up across the board in the second half. What do you think changed offensively between the first 30 minutes and the second that allowed you guys to obviously keep scoring?
A: Yeah, I think a couple things. I think, obviously, being able to get in there at halftime and talk through some things as a staff, halftime adjustments. I think we did a good job of that this week. Again, I thought we were able to stay on schedule. You look at the two biggest stats of playing an Iowa team. First, our first down efficiency for both sides, our offensive efficiency, our defense's efficiency, getting them off schedule. We were able to stay on schedule, for the most part. We were able to get them off schedule. That was a big stat. The other one was the middle eight. We put a huge emphasis on the middle eight, and to be able to come out and get those points by deferring the initial coin toss and then go down and get some big points there to start the half, that was big. So, I think our kids settled down. I think we got a pretty good idea of what they did well, and I thought Mike did a really good job of calling and not getting bored against an Iowa defense who is damn good and not get bored of the plays that were consistently getting us five to six yards and coming back to them. Don't get bored with them. Keep coming back to them until they prove that they can stop it.
Q: You mentioned having those kinds of plays throughout a game. How important is it to find those things early in the game? And when did you feel like you found those plays?
A: Yeah, I think, you know, we started to kind of get some of them in the second quarter and then what I tried to do on the headset is really remind Mike of things like that. I always appreciated that when I was an offensive coordinator. Take a shot here, run the ball here. Mike, they haven't stopped these two plays, let's get back to them. But Mike's doing a really good job. I think Ty Howle's been a really good voice in the box with him as well. But Mike's doing a really nice job. Really, the whole staff is. So, you know, I would probably say the second quarter and then we kind of kept going back to those things in the second half.
Q: Coach I was going to ask you about Coach Yurcich and his evolution from when he started calling quick passes, but you kind of hit on that a lot, so let's switch to Drew Allar. What was more impressive, kind of, the zip of the ball or the accuracy? He had short touchdown passes, but he's fitting it into really tight windows, so he's not only making good decisions, but the accurate throws to get the six points in the redzone.
A: Yeah, and we had some drops that I don't think we normally have, but with the weather conditions, those things happen. We've got to be better there. We've got to continue to work the wet ball stuff. But yeah, I thought Drew did a really good job of managing the game. It's not just the offensive line. It's also Drew and the running backs from a protection standpoint, making sure that we're getting our five blockers on their five most dangerous rushers. And then at times, Drew's doing a good job of getting rid of the ball and throwing it away. Sometimes, that's as big of a play as anything because it would have been a six-yard sack and he throws it away and you either give yourself another down to pick up the first down or you reserve the right to punt, which sometimes, that's the right thing to do.
Q: James, you told us all offseason that you thought you had three defensive ends that can start probably anywhere in the country. We saw the three of them on the field. You view them as starters. We saw three of them on the field tonight. How did you think that group played? And then what went into getting the three of them together? Because it seemed like it worked out quite well.
A: Again, I think to that point, we know we've got three guys that can be really disruptive, as well as others. And Chop has the ability to really be powerful as a pass rusher. So, we thought his quickness and power gave us something as a change up in a different package against their third down package. So, I thought it was good for us. You know, we'll continue to do some different wrinkles each week based on matchups and schemes, but it's good to do those types of things and be creative and give other people things that they got to work on during the week.
Q: Last week before the Illinois game, Adisa Isaac said you guys need to raise the havoc rate. Now, we've seen five turnovers forced there, four here. What about the defense has broken through? They've been forcing so many turnovers.
A: Adisa put it out in the universe. I might ask him to do it again this week. But really, I think the biggest thing is being able to get people off schedule. If people are able to stay on schedule and run the ball and throw quick game and things like that, it's hard to have the havoc rate that you want. But when you get people off schedule on first and second down and do a great job of defending the run, then you put yourself in a position to earn the right to rush the passer by how you defend the run. So, some real positives to build on. But it really starts with playing great run defense on early downs to give yourself the havoc rate in terms of sacks, tackles for loss and turnovers.