Q: It was a big recruiting weekend for you. How did things go logistically? Has it been your experience that whether you win or lose a game, does it make a huge difference in the impact it makes on the kids?
A: The first thing I would say, it was a great recruiting weekend in terms of the number of humans here we've been able to identify over the last six months, them, their families.
I think absolutely seeing that environment, watching that environment, watching our football team grow, I think are all things that were positive.
Certainly, winning football games still matters. We've not been naïve to say that. I think from our end of it, our recruiting staff did an incredible job. It was great to have so many great families here Friday, Saturday, even Sunday, into Sunday night. I thought it was huge for us.
I thought a really positive weekend from that standpoint.
Q: What went into the decision to lean more on Carson Hansen Saturday?
A: I think the style of run game that we were going to play with was probably the beginning portion of that. I thought that rotation with him and James [Peoples] was probably closer to where we would like to be in terms of what's going on.
Obviously, we’ve still got great faith in Quinton [Martin Jr.] and Cam [Wallace]. But I think right now for where we're at and what we've seen, even where we use Carson. I think some of those runs down inside the 20 yard-line where there was some positive; I thought seeing James have the ability to make some explosive runs at times, those were all positives.
There was growth there. Are we where we want to be? No. I certainly think those two right now catching the ball out of the backfield, some of those protection things, I think those things started to show itself and we'll need to continue to grow in those areas.
I thought both those guys did a good job in the football game.
Q: Mouse [Taylor Mouser] just told us you were a run game without an identity. What would you say the identity is of that run game? What were you hoping it would be?
A: Well, I think you're trying to figure out, especially up front, where can we settle this group of young men into? I think we've dabbled in a little bit of everything trying to find what these guys do best and give them the most confidence.
I do feel like there were some things, even in that game, that showed up as positives for us that I think we can build off of. I think there's some other things that continue to show we have to figure out what we do well, then have the ability to adjust when people take that away.
I think that's probably a little bit of probably the frustration and a little bit of just figuring out what's our core, what's our foundation, then how do we build off of that. So I think that's something we've probably been searching for.
I think we thought we were one thing maybe coming out of fall camp. As we've navigated ourselves forward, that's not exactly where we're at and where we'd like to be. How do we do well and give those guys confidence to play fast and play with confidence?
Again, there were moments in the football game, opportunities where those guys did some really good things in the run game. But the consistency, I know that's a word I used last week, I'm going to say it again this week, that is the missing piece to where we want do go and where we need to be.
Growth? Yes. Enough growth? No. I think that's kind of probably anything you would ask me about right now within our football program is, there was great growth in terms of where we want to be, but there's not enough growth to where we would like to be to be able to win football games and finish the games in the third and fourth quarter.
Q: You told the recruits pregame you're not flinching, unwavering in creating a championship team. Where are you in that process? How much patience is necessary in that process? What would be the next immediate step for that?
A: I thought it was a great question last weekend, what is the expectation, to watch our football team respond to a really poor performance.
To me, we are not wavering. We are going to build the right foundation, standards and expectations on how we do things.
Where we're not is, we're not where we need to be in terms of the ability to finish football games. When it gets hard, can we do the hard things well? You can say the same thing on offense and defense.
Two drives in the second half where you get the ball inside of the 20 yard-line. We don't finish the drives with touchdowns, which was kind of the difference in the game. No difference defensively. It's third and 15, third and 10, third and 10.
It's the same story from Wisconsin and against USC in the third and fourth quarter. We are not where we need to be to finish those plays, get off the field, win those situations.
I think the great thing is there was growth last week in terms of our kids didn't cower, we went back to work. Even saw it in the locker room after the game. You watch Brett [Eskildsen], some of those tough moments. Our kids wrapped their arms around each other.
I think there's great want to. Do we have the leadership, the toughness and the character? You're going to find out a lot more abut us this week. Man, you’ve got to go on the road, play one of the top defenses in the country statistically. You have to go on the road and play at a place that traditionally is hard to play. Especially it's been hard here at Penn State.
The opportunity to go and can we prove to ourselves again we can grow and do hard things well. I think that's the narrative. That's where we're not going to flinch. We're going to continue to hold standards, we are going to continue to hold accountability, and we're going to continue to demand a pathway forward.
Q: With the late substitutions leading to the timeouts, what happens to put you guys in those situations? What needs to get cleaned up to avoid having to use those timeouts?
A: Well, the first one in the first half was a mechanical error, like I said. The Big Ten Monday said they were wrong on that one. That was a really tough situation, especially trying to save those timeouts for the end of the half. That one was definitely, that situation, uniquely.
I think the second one that happened in the third quarter, that's on us. That's coaching. We subbed late. We were going to go to a tempo play. We kind of didn't know if it was fourth down or a third down situation. We ended up subbing late. That's on coaching.
Then the last one of the game on the punt situation was the punter came off the field. The punter came onto the field. At that point we put our return group on. Then the quarterback came on. At that point the defense was too far off. It is a great learning situation. That's on us coaching-wise. I put it more on myself than anybody on that last situation.
So I didn't want to chance it. I think you could have there, for sure, because it was just the quarterback. But I didn't want to chance it in that situation. I wanted to get the ball back. We had plenty of time.
I wanted to take the timeout, get the right situation handled, make sure we had a returner on the field, and make sure put ourselves in the right situation.
I think the two were coaching, we can do better, and it starts with me as the head football coach.
Q: Wondering if you could describe the team's psyche after a couple losses. Do you begin to look further into the roster at this point in the season as you look ahead to building your program?
A: Well, I think you do. I only think you look further if the players that are playing in the game are not accountable to the standards of growing forward.
I think that's the one thing, at least up until this point, I have not seen this locker room waver from standards and accountability. Us as coaches have to take accountability for where we have to go. We as players have to take great accountability as we grow forward.
The only time I would see us wavering from any player on our roster is if there is a lack of personal accountability to grow forward.
There is a different situation where scheme, trying to match scheme up, where you asked about Marcus [Neal] last week in that situation. That was a scheme situation. We were trying to get more coverage on the field against one of the top skill groups we were going to play.
I think the reality is, yes, we're all searching for the right answers from a personnel standpoint. The only time we're going to replace personnel-wise is if there's a lack of standard and accountability from what we're trying to get done or prove.
Q: You didn't have [Alex] Tatsch for the game against USC. In Big Ten play, as you get deeper into it, other than Tony [Rojas], are you concerned at all about your linebacker depth as the season unfolds?
A: Absolutely. Obviously, Alex's situation is tough. He got injured in practice. We still don't know exactly where that is or how long that's going to be. Hopefully we'll know a little bit more this week. I think you guys all know what Alex means to that linebacker room.
On a positive note, Cam Smith is at least working back into practice this week. May be available for us this weekend. I would say that's absolutely what we thought was a really healthy room at some point and kind of been hit with some tough injuries, thinned out at times.
Making sure we've got the right depth there is going to be really critical. Do we have it, are guys available, what does that look like? I think all those things certainly matter right now for us.
Q: Taylor [Mouser] just said he thinks about Koby's [Howard] return a lot as the offensive coordinator. Will he be back on the field this Saturday? Is that a post-bye week conversation?
A: I think it's a post-bye week conversation. Obviously, Koby is doing a really great job in terms of working his way back. If anybody is going to get back sooner than later, it's going to be Koby Howard just because of how he works. That's a post-bye week conversation, for sure.
Q: What has kept the running game from getting the explosive plays in Big Ten play?
A: Yeah, I know I said this a little bit last week. You see some of those plays last week. Man, there's a couple that are blocked really well. Our detail in terms of being on the inside pad or the outside pad of the puller.
Then there's a couple where, man, there's one guy that's off in the run game, and we can't get to where we need to get to to get to the explosive run.
I know I sound like a broken record, but I will tell you this: I think it's inches rather than gaps. We’ve got to continue to pound away at it.
Again, there's some young guys that I do think are growing. Brock Riker took a major step from where he was at Northwestern than where he was last week. There are some other young pups that are growing forward. The lack of consistency at times puts us in a tough spot.
I think that group continuing to grow together is really big. I also think it is big, what Mouse talked about, what do we do well? Let's give these guys some confidence in what we do well, then let's make the right adjustments in the game based on what the defense is giving us.
I think we can help that, but I think that's a global sentiment from my end. Man, the consistency or lack of consistency is you're like one guy off in some of those big opportunities.
Q: These things don't really tie together except you talked about them both about a month and a half ago. LaVar Arrington, you told us was four to six weeks. Where is he at? Then Coach [D’Anton] Lynn, a great debate between the booth and the field. He's on the field now. How has that gone?
A: LaVar is similar to Koby in terms of the trajectory. I think that's a great opportunity post the bye week is where probably he's more trending to right now.
Coach Lynn piece, we talked about it last Friday, your gut feel, where do you feel you're at. To me, I think one of the things that's been really helpful and was helpful Saturday is his ability to tie it all together down on the sideline, the ability to make the right adjustments on the sideline. His ability to kind of tie it all together at one point rather than being upstairs and not having the ability to make the right adjustments.
Again, I thought we made some good adjustments throughout the game that we needed to. That's really the reason why, more of a voice of kind of continuity and tying it all together, the D-line, the linebackers, the safeties and the corners at the right point at the right time.
Q: Media Day to start the season, you said you guys have a lot to prove. Is that still the case? What do you think you still have to prove?
A: I think we’ve got to prove a whole lot here, right? The prove-it mentality is exactly what I keep talking about. I’ve said it since January. I said it in July, August. I kind of said it as we kind of got in here.
Adversity is going to hit. Are we tough enough to work through really hard things? I don't think that is just a now thing. I think it is a reality. As you build a culture, you build a program, there's got to be standard and expectations.
Man, this is college football. I don't care where you're at, what league you're in, hard things are going to happen, adversity is going to hit. It takes really tough-minded humans, coach, staff, players, to be accountable for where the gaps are, then fix the gaps.
To me, that is the prove-it mentality. A win? It doesn't matter about a win or a loss. It's a matter of, man, is that the mentality, the character of the football program. How are we working through those hard moments and hard times?
I think we still have a lot to prove, that we are capable of doing that, this program is capable of doing that. That's the mentality we've had from day one. It certainly hasn't wavered one inch from where we're at right now.