Penn State Football
Student-Athlete Postgame Press Conference
vs. Michigan – November 11, 2023
Offense
Drew Allar | QB | So.
Q: How would you assess your personal performance?
A: Not good enough overall, obviously it's not the outcome that we wanted we just have to play better offensively the defense did all they could today we put them in a couple of tough situations but yeah, we just have to play better.
Q: What kept you guys from carrying over the momentum from the first quarter into the second quarter?
A: My fumble, that's where the game changed for me personally we were moving the ball I think that was our second set of first downs on the opening drive and then. I just can't put the ball on the ground and gave them good field position. We were down five or something at the half and then we're down eight because I put the ball on the ground, and they were able to go down and kick the field goal.
Q: There was a lot of noise surrounding this game. How do you block that out all week?
A: I've been just trying to stay off social media as much as I can, no matter if we're doing good or we're doing bad, I didn't have a problem blocking out any outside noise this week.
Q: This is the second tough loss that you've taken to a top five team how do you motivate yourself going forward this season?
A: A lot can happen in college football, we just have to stick together, keep sticking together, learn from it tomorrow, be critical of ourselves, but learn from it and continue to move on. At this point we need to bounce back this week in practice and just play our hearts out and we only get so many opportunities in football to actually play games we train 8-9 months out of the year. We only get to play football 3 months and that's once a week, so we just have to cherish all the moments that we have left with this team. There is no other group that I would rather go out and play with.
Theo Johnson | TE | Jr.
Q: What's the attitude right now of the team?
A: There's really nothing I can say that's going to make everybody feel better. We have a lot more football to play but keep playing for each other and keep getting better.
Q: What were some of the issues that you experienced on third down today?
A: We got to execute and be able to get open in man coverage. We need to help our quarterback and make plays when they come to us. I think that we did a pretty good job on the first down a lot better than we have. We didn't put ourselves in too bad of situations on third down compared to times in the past, we just have to execute when we have opportunities.
Hunter Nourzad | OL | R-Sr+
Q: You guys were the number one rush defense and today, gave up 230 yards. What was different about today?
A: Obviously we're frustrated. I think the first step is that we all know we need to get better. It gets to looking internally. I think it starts with every individual and how they can get better. We as a team just have to get better.
Q: Was it more Michigan's defense or you guys that led to the outcome of the game?
A: I have great respect for the defense. You know, they're a tough team. They're a good team. I think we're also a very good team. We just have to; we have to make some things tomorrow and get better.
Q: As an older player on this team and within the offensive line room… How do you as a as an older guy kind of hammer that point home that message? Or is it just understood?
A: I think it's pretty understood within our culture. I think we have a really tight team. You know, we're all playing for each other. At the end of the day, that's kind of what makes it special here. It's a brotherhood, and we're all playing for each other. So, it's kind of understood, that I need to get better. We all need to get better.
Nick Singleton | RB | So.
Q: Nick can you just describe the emotions going through your head right now?
A: Yeah, I'm just a little upset now, so obviously it was a good game. I feel like we should give credit to Michigan, they are a good team. We need to look at the film and see what to fix and move on.
Q: What didn't you guys do, that you thought you could? Like what did not work the way you thought it was going to?
A: Everything was going fine, Michigan is a good team, they played their butts off for the whole four quarters, I feel like we didn't do that, so we have to look at the film and see what we have to fix.
Q: Nick to come up short on offense in the two biggest games of the season how disappointing is that for you guys?
A: Yeah, it's disappointing for sure but you give credit to their teams, I feel like we're a good team too. We just have to finish for real.
Tyler Warren | TE | Jr.
Q: How do you try to push on from a game like this?
A: You have to realize we still got football left to play, so learn from it tomorrow and then moving on making sure we got each other back through it and show up next week ready to go.
Q: What does this program have to do to move forward really? What will be the difference in the future?
A: Now we have to learn from this week and start getting prepared for the next game coming up because we still got a lot of football left to play.
Defense
Kevin Winston Jr. | S | So.
Q: How would you describe the postgame locker room, and your feelings post game?
A: It hurts. You know, any loss like that to hurts. But the season is not over. You can feel tonight and go through it tonight… do whatever you do. It's just knowing that the season is not over. It's keeping our heads together, staying together, not crashing out mentally. We got a whole season ahead of us, with two games in the regular season and whatever happens after that. So, we're on to Rutgers now. That's the focus, and we'll get back to that. We will watch the film tomorrow and see what happened and we'll talk about it.
Q: Your defense was number one in stopping the run in the nation prior to the game but allowed 230 yards today. What about today was different?
A: I'm not sure what happened in the game, but we're going to get on film and see whatever happened with that. But this is a great team in Michigan, great running backs, great o-line, great team overall. You never know what's going to happen on any given day. We'll get back into the film room and see what happened whatever happened we'll fix it.
Q: What is the biggest obstacle or challenge to resetting your goals? Knowing about the college football playoff, being one of the top teams in the country, and now finishing out to win a big bowl game with the opponents that lie ahead.
A: The standard is still the standard. It's one game at a time, "1-0" mentality so we still have to win the Rutgers game and still have to win the rest of our games. It's not, because this happened that we can chill. We still have to go win these games, win the next game, finish the season strong until to that very last game. We have to keep going and keep doing we've been doing.
Curtis Jacobs | LB | Jr.
Q: So, Curtis, how would you describe the locker room after the game?
A: It's pretty much how you expect it. We got a bunch of guys; we battle every day. When it doesn't go your way, it hurts. You just got to find a way back and just keep working.
Q: Do you know at this point, how do you find your way back, how do you get past no hurt like this?
A: Just sticking together. It's what got us through all the hard times in the winter, all the hard times in the summer.
Kobe King | LB | R-So.
Q: You guys have been great against the run all year but struggle a little bit at times today. What did you see from Michigan that was so difficult to stop them?
A: Immediately, none of that was so difficult. I would say it was just us doing our job consistently. That's really, you know, believing in each other and trusting each other and just doing our job consistently.
Q: Were you all aware of the drama going on with Michigan off the field?
A: To us in a team, and to me, we just stay focused on practice day by day. You hear it throughout the week, but you know, that couldn't be a distraction for us. So we had to keep our head straight and keep going.
Dani Dennis-Sutton | DE | So.
Q: How were they able to neutralize your pass rusher Prowler package and what was the challenge of trying to deal with that, early in the game and throughout?
A: They got a lot of explosive runs on third and long. We were in our Prowler package sometimes and they would hit the open gaps. Sometimes we couldn't get our Prowler package out there on third down and they wanted to get it off quick or hit open gaps.
Q: Your defense seems to keep giving more chances in the second half there with 14 punts. How do you feel about the way you're able to provide opportunities for the offense during the second half?
A: We try on defense, were not being played offensively. We got a standard and we got a vote at all times, no matter what the circumstance is on defense.
Adisa Isaac | DE | Sr.+
Q: As a guy whose dealt with injury and came back for this fifth season, can you explain how this feels? Did you envision this coming back for a fifth year?
A: It's tough. Losing to whoever is tough. Definitely losing to these guys hurts. Of course not, I didn't envision this.
Q: Does it hit you guys harder that you guys lost your biggest games?
A: Yeah, obviously we started off strong, we had a bump against Ohio State, picked it back up and had another bump. Losing is always tough regardless of who it is and we just got to bounce back stronger.
Q: Were you surprised you weren't able to stop them a little more effectively when they continued to run the ball time and time again?
A: I feel like we practiced that, we got to get better in that aspect. Man... we just need to bounce back better in those types of situations.
Q: Michigan didn't officially attempt a pass in the entire second half, did you guys recognize that and adjust to it?
A: We realized that they were bringing in different and more lineman and what not. Obviously in film study you try to pick up what they're trying to do. At the end of the day, we knew we had to stop the run to get to the pass rush. We just have to be better.