Will Howard | QB | JR
Q: How do you feel about what you guys did?
A: There's no feeling like it, man. And I mean, it wasn't pretty. I probably played my worst game of the year. Just right now that feeling walking on the field. We willed that game. I mean, the will that we talked about earlier in the week, man. I said, we're going to have to will ourselves to win this game. There's no way we're going to be able to lose. And that was the way we played. And the defense stepped up. I mean, two huge stops right on the goal line. I mean, that changed the game. And the O-line, they all the stuff they took during the week and all the flack they were getting, for them to step up the way that they did, to run the ball and keep the ball in our hands and win the game with ball in our hands. I mean, that's unbelievable. And just being able to scrape out a win like that, it's not pretty, you know, they're a good football team. I do believe that. And they did some good things. I did some bad things. I believe, you take away the pick and the turnover in the end zone, it's probably 28-3 going to half. It's a different game. But, man, we willed ourselves to win that game. I can't give enough credit to my teammates. They bailed me out. Just winning a game like that in this, my home state, it’s unbelievable.
Q: You get the ball at the one-yard line, what was the mindset like?
A: That was huge. We willed ourselves to win that game. We put the ball on [Quinshon Judkins] and Trey [Henderson] and the O-line’s back. Let them win the game for us, I think we're averaging like five yards carry on QB sneaks right now. Like, our line is unbelievable at that so getting the ball out—the biggest thing on that drive was that quarterback sneak on first play. Getting the ball off the five-yard line from a QB sneak is huge. Another couple of big runs, by Q and Trey, that was huge.
Q: You keep talking about, you certainly would like to play better. What was your mindset after the interception?
A: I was just like, hey, I made this a little harder than it should on myself and us. But the mindset can't change, and if you just continue to let that play impact the next play, that's going to become the problem. Because, as much as I'd love to go back and change that play up, you know, and not throw that ball, I would. But how you respond is the way you come back.
JT Tuimoloau | DE | SR
Q: Didn't look like they caught you off-guard with the goal line plays. Were you guys expecting three straight runs? Can you kind of go through that sequence a little bit, how you guys managed to come out?
A: Yeah. There's a lot of great communication out there. On the goal line stand, we're expecting everything. We're just alerting everybody for all the plays that we watched on film, and just keeping everybody on their toes and not getting complacent. Once complacency creeps in, that's when a lot of things can go wrong. But you know, there's a lot of communication, a lot of great physicality in there, and I'm proud of that.
Q: You’re undefeated against Penn State, how does that feel?
A: It feels amazing, but you know now, now we have to move on to the next game. After this day—we have to enjoy the win, celebrate it—now, we move on to the next game, which is Purdue.
Q: In terms of what you saw in [Penn State], has it changed through the downs? Like from first down to third down? We see that you're flustering them.
A: “I think they wanted to run a lot inside zone on that on that goal line and I think us just holding our ground, you know, we put the pressure on them. We just stayed disciplined within our game plan and just continue to play our game.