Opening Statement:
So like always, I want to thank you guys for coming out and covering Penn State football. I want to thank the fans. We had a great crowd, especially late in the game there. I think they really factored in, caused them to burn some timeouts got some penalties. So, that was significant for us. I think Sander Sahaydak coming out and making some big-time field goals; that was big, and it's going to pay dividends for us moving forward. Most importantly, you’ve got to give Bowling Green a ton of credit. We talked about it during the week. In the last three years, they beat Minnesota, they beat Georgia Tech, Michigan last year was 14-6 at the half, 32 seniors, and you got to give them credit. They played their tail off. The moment wasn't too big for them. The opening drive showed that, and we were in a dogfight, so got to give them a ton of credit. Obviously, Ty Warren had a big game for us. Both running backs had big games for us. And I thought in the second half, we were able to calm down and get ahead of the sticks on defense. That was the issue in the first half. We were giving up too much on first down, creating manageable third down situations for most of the first half, and that was problematic. So obviously we’ve got some work to do, but it's nice doing that work with a win. There's a ton of teams across the country that will be trying to make corrections after a loss, and we got to make a bunch of corrections after a win, and obviously we got some work to do. So again, I want to thank the crowd and thank you guys for coming out.
Q: You touched on it, but how do you account for the difference in the performance of the defense from the first half to the second half? Is that the team? Is it effort? What were the things that kind of went into that?
A: I know I give the answer that you guys hate, but it's hard for me to really say that right now without watching the tape. No different than when I learned a long time ago as a head coach after a win like that, we talk about being 1-0 and being positive and being appreciative of the wins, and wins are hard to get in college football, of not going in there and starting critiquing after a win. And for really the same reasons, I don't want to say something that's not totally accurate without watching the tape yet. But I think the biggest thing in the second half, like I already mentioned, on defense, we were more efficient on first down, which created second-and-long and created third-and-long situations. We were ahead of the sticks. The whole first half we weren’t. I think what happens early on, and it's happened for the last couple years, and we’ve got to look at this; I think early on, we're trying to make plays rather than play the defense. We need to get out of our gaps, try to make plays, doing things that we haven't done during the week, and we’ve got to get those things cleaned up, for sure.
Q: Obviously, last year we saw a little bit of Tony Rojas and he was a game changer, and what we’ve seen through two games, we've seen a bunch of that now. Can you kind of talk about his role to the team and what he's contributed so far through two games?
A: Yeah, I think you guys know we've been talking positively about him, really, since we recruited him, since he showed on campus. You know, the way his body has changed, his production. He's big, fast, smart, physical. He can do a lot of different things. It's not just tackles in the box. He's the sideline guy as well as a guy that can obviously make plays in coverage. I think that's maybe some things that maybe people saw on tape. He's had some opportunities to cover backs, one on one, on wheel routes and things like that. He's done a nice job. And then today, to be able to undercut that route and get an interception was big.
Q: You’ve long talked about the value of Nick and Kaytron. How valuable were those two today to this win?
A: Yeah, I think, you know, there was a lot of buzzing, I think, last week, about Kaytron Allen and yards per carry and production and all those types of things. You know, both of these guys; Nick averages 9.2, Kaytron averages 7.2. Both for over 100 yards, and to be able to have that type of balance in the passing game and in the run game, I think it's really important. The thing that we have got to get better at is we’ve got to be better on third down, because we're not getting enough plays to be able to distribute the ball around to all of our guys. We're not getting enough plays to do it. And the way to resolve that is to be better on third down, or, you know, obviously getting the first downs on first and second down and never even get to third down. But, we’ve got to get more plays. That will help our offense out significantly, but also help our defense out significantly.
Q: I'm curious, going back to the tight end position. I know I asked going into the week, but with Andrew not being available, we saw him apparently using crutches on the sideline. Is that a long-term injury issue that we need to be aware of? And because of this, it seems like Luke has been thrust into games back-to-back weeks. Are you increasingly comfortable with him playing more as a freshman?
A: Yeah, Luke's the guy that we have a ton of confidence in, not only physically, but just how he's approached things since he stepped on campus as a true freshman. I’ve been very impressed with him. I can't really speak at this stage on Rap [Rappleyea], just because I don't know. To be honest with you, this was very, very recent that this happened. So, I don't have the information to give to you. And as you guys know, I won't talk about injuries with you guys until I've talked to the players and their families and make sure everybody's okay with it, with the information. But I also, again, I don't know. Again, it was very recent.
Q: Coach, what can you tell us about why KJ Winston only played the first quarter, I think maybe one play in the second quarter, and then the guys that came in and took the snaps he would usually get. How do you think initially those guys performed?
A: Yeah, again, I can't get into KJ Winston and why he wasn't in there. As you guys know, I don't talk about those things, but it obviously increased the amount of reps for Jaylen Reed and increased the amount of reps for Zakee Wheatley. It also kind of changed our ability to be able to get into the package where J. Reed is playing a lion position. So, you know, we need to be in base a little bit more. It's hard to get in prowler if they don't substitute on third down, which is what a lot of people are doing, they won't substitute on third down, so that we can't get our prowler on the field, which is our rush package, which is a smart plan. So those are some things that we're going to have to work on, specifically during the bye week. Those will be important.
Q: Coach, historically, your quarterbacks have always had that go-to receiver, that they just have this connection like Sean and Jahan- has Tyler Warren become that right now for Drew after another really impressive performance?
A: Yeah, I think there's a number of guys. I think Tyler Warren was the guy today that got a bunch of opportunities and made the most of them. Obviously, his play count opportunities went up because we didn't have Rap [Rappleyea] available, so that was part of that as well. You know, last week everybody was talking about Trey, right? So, that's just kind of how things are going to go. But again, that goes back to my point earlier. We’ve just got to get more plays on offense. We’ve got to get off the field on defense, and we’ve got to sustain drives on offense so that we can get more guys involved and more touches.
Q: Just a preparation question, did you feel like on defense you guys were as quick as you were last week, and did having a bye next week affect how you approach this week at all?
A: No, the bye next week didn't affect how we looked at this week or prepared for this week. That didn't factor in. But in terms of how we played against West Virginia on defense against a team that we think is going to give people fits. Obviously, we were much more productive against West Virginia on the defensive side of the ball, and to your point, flying around the field, being disruptive, making plays. And again, I'm not one of those coaches where I'm not going to give credit to Bowling Green. That's Bowling Green, give them credit for their plan and their players. And then it's also us making sure we're doing a good job with our plan and our players and going out and executing, it's literally both. It’s no different than last week. I think our defense created some of those problems and issues and caused stress. It's weird to have a bye week after your second game, but I think it's going to be important for us, and we're going to need to maximize this time and then obviously, we're going to focus on our next opponent.