Q: After looking at film, can you put your finger on some of the struggles with the run game? Could you address kind of the trickle-down effect from that? When you have trouble running the ball, how does that impact the rest of your offense?
A: Globally, I think the run game is almost like; it's like the whole thing, right? It's inconsistencies across the board right now in terms of everything.
I would say, answering your question about the run game, there is at every turn, you can't just pinpoint this group or this group or that group. The reality of it is we lack an identity. We lack who we want to be and where we need to be.
I think where all of those things come back a little bit fundamentally is, we're still not exactly where we need to be or want to be on the offensive line, whether that's at the receiver position, blocking in the run game, or at times our tailbacks in the run game. I think those things are real and those are things that must get better.
When that's not working, what it certainly does is, it certainly stresses the entire organism. You can't play a game situationally where you're playing in rhythm. Really for the last six quarters, we failed to do that really in all three phases of the game. I think that part of it obviously is frustrating, but it's a reality, and it's where we are right now.
I think the thing that's really positive is, we know we have the people and we have the coaches to get where we need to be. The only way to do it is a relentless approach back on the practice field of getting ourselves back to where we need to be. But that is certainly a real question, and that is real, and that's where we are right now.
Q: When you look at the run defense after going back and watching it, how do you fix it? How much of that was Chip [Kelly] giving you guys stuff that you weren't ready for?
A: First of all, you give Northwestern credit. They came out with a great plan. I think the thing for us on Friday night was very similar to what I'm talking about in the run game offense is we fundamentally were off in a lot of different areas. When you're a hair off in some of those situations, man, you're getting exposed and you're getting exposed really fast.
Those are things that we've done well at times, we're just not consistently doing it at the level we need to play at to play great football across the board. I think from our end, again, we have great belief that we have the players and the people. I certainly believe we've got great coaches. Again, we have to go back to how we practice fundamentally, getting off blocks, finishing on the tackle point. We've got to be better, and we've got to do a better job of it.
You certainly tip your hat to them but the reality is there were opportunities for us to make some plays, and we just didn't do it in the football game. I think it's a global approach, and I think it kind of fits where we are right now as a football program. Not at the standard and expectation we want to be at, but a reality of we've got great people and we've got the right human beings to get where we need to be.
Q: It looks like Rocco [Becht] is having some consistency issues with accuracy right now. After watching the film, have you been able to identify what he needs to do to get back to where he was those first three games?
A: It's such a great point, but when you go back to those first three games, and really probably at times even in the first half of the Wisconsin game, you're playing in a rhythm. You're playing with; Rocco certainly needs to be better, and we can continue to pound away at that, and Rocco would be the first one to say it. But we need to be better with the other 10 people around him too. We need to be better in our pass protection at times. We certainly need to be better in terms of our run game.
The lack of consistency around Rocco is certainly putting the spotlight on Rocco's ability or inability and ties to play with consistency as well. I think the biggest thing is that goes to a global approach to this as well is we have to do a better job of having consistency of those other 10 players so we can get him into a rhythm so he can play with great consistency, and we haven't been able to do that.
Obviously, that is frustrating. It goes back to the identity of our football team, or lack thereof right now, of having the identity we want to have and expect to have, and we have to work really hard to get back right now.
Q: Was there a steeper transition to the Big Ten physicality than you guys anticipated?
A: I would just say this, we know this is a physical conference. We played this conference many times during my past. So I don't feel like that aspect of where we're at; I think where we're at is, you're trying to build a culture and schemes and foundations, and you're trying to do that right now, and you're lacking the consistency.
I think the easy thing is to say is it a physical problem? Is it lack of physicality? I think some of that shows up when you're so inconsistent in some of the detail things it takes to play good football really in all three phases.
We'll see another really physical football team again this week. We've got great respect for the opponent that we play as well, but the reality of it is, we have really good football players that have the ability. We have to do a better job of fundamentally and structurally to get our guys in the best position to be the most physical group they can be.
Q: It was 31-13 with about eight minutes to go, no onside kick there. Did you think about it?
A: We did. We had three timeouts, so I felt like, if we could go get a stop, thinking that we could go get a score and then kick the onside kick, that was really my thought. If we didn't have three timeouts, I would have kicked it right there.
At that point I felt like if we could get a stop and get the ball deep, get the opportunity to get the ball back fast, then go score and get the opportunity to kick the onside. So that was my thinking at the time.
- You talk a lot about the pride you take in establishing a culture. Are you surprised at the lack of identity in this team right now? How frustrating is that?
A: I think it's frustrating when you know from your end the human beings that reside in our locker room, the coaching staff that you have, and honestly the fan base that you know you represent. You know that there's; this place has gone through hard and come out better from it every step of the way.
To be quite honest with you, the frustration from my end is you want to give all three of those things, our players, our coaches, and this community, something to be really proud of and what it represents, and we're not there yet. Am I surprised? I think I said; you know, somebody asked me in here maybe after the Buffalo game, are we where we need to be? I said no. The reality of it is I'm not surprised.
I think this is you're trying to morph offensive schemes, you're trying to morph team, you're trying to morph culture together, and it's a growth process. The reality of it is we have to be better and it starts with my leadership of making sure we get better, but I've got great belief in the humans that we have and we're just not there yet right now.
Q: More than a couple times, I think in the last two games, you've been in third-and-short situations where you've completed passes, but they haven't been to the sticks. When you look at that, is that a bad design of the play or is that the receivers just not getting to the right depth?
A: Yeah, we talked about that a lot on Sunday. I think that one of them was each situation where we've got to be better. One of them probably situation was a catch-and-run opportunity with what we were thinking we were going to get and we didn't execute it. The other one, we've got to be at the sticks, and our detail wasn't where we needed it to be.
I think just even that is such a great point of kind of where we are in terms of that aspect of it. It's a growth process from our end of it, but that's a great point and really what we talked about on Friday was both of those situations. One was, man, player-wise, we have to have our awareness of where the sticks are, and the second one was a situation where we were in a catch-and-run opportunity, and we just didn't get to where we needed to be.
Q: Could you provide us an update on Koby Howard? On health overall, do you feel like the guys you missed in spring and summer maybe is playing a role in where your offense is at with that lack of identity right now?
A: I think any time; let's talk about Koby. Koby is doing really good. He's not back yet. I think we're still a couple weeks away from getting Koby back. I think one thing that Koby brought was consistency. He was the guy that was consistently executing, and Chase [Sowell] is doing that I think right now at a really high rate and [Benjamin] Brahmer and some of those guys.
But when you had Koby, Koby was the guy that was creating matchups, and you were creating a lot of those matchups in the first couple games to kind of get him situated. Somebody, and globally more, has got to find a way to get ourselves there.
We had a lot of guys dinged up during the offseason, whether they were offseason surgeries or whether it was fall camp, getting them late, and I think there is a little bit of a process with those guys getting them back to where we need them to play with the physicality and detail we need them to play.
Those aren't excuses. It happens to every team in the country. The reality is we have to continue to find making sure that simplicity equals velocity. How do we keep simplifying to allow our guys to play fast and confident right now, who's capable of going out and playing fast and confident right now?
Q: D'Anton [Lynn] a few minutes ago said they didn't do as many tackling drills last week because of the short week. I'm wondering what do you do? How do you get this team to play the physical style that you want them to play? Do you add more blocking drills, more physical drills this week? How do you approach that specifically?
A: It's a great point. Last week was a unique challenge a little bit, even from my end as the head football coach, of you're coming off a really physical game against Wisconsin and you know you're going to play, after watching the Indiana game, a really physical Northwestern team.
I think you're trying to balance both of these, how do you get your guys back and be ready to have their tanks full and making sure the physicality that we really had in the first 4 1/2 weeks of the season on practice in Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, where do you peel back and where do you accelerate yourself forward?
Again, I know I said this after the game, that starts with the head football coach. Obviously, the decision to maybe pull back a little bit maybe put ourselves at a disadvantage. Certainly those are things you're constantly evaluating when you don't get the result that you want.
I think the other piece of it is any time you're not where you want to be and there are inconsistencies, you have to go back to the common denominator in simplest form of how do we get ourselves back? If it's blocking, tackling, getting off blocks, what fundamentally do we revert ourselves back to, to make sure we're drilling and those same things can't show up again?
I think all of those things you look at and you make sure practice; you know this, that's why they call it practice. They call it practice to be able to correct the mistakes and the shortcomings you're at and also to make sure that you're the team that you want to be.
So I think practice is critical this week. Our morning practice today was, I think, a step in the right direction, but as we know, those things, it can't be just a great Tuesday after an emotional result of sitting on this from Saturday, Sunday, Monday. It's the consistency of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday practices.
Again, if the work is inconsistent across the board, then we have to make sure that our fundamental and technique back to simplicity equals velocity. Let's be great at the simple things. Let's make sure that the identity that we want to be starts to come out.
Q: Through five games now, you're starting to be perceived by people as conservative in your approach to running the game and all. Do you think that that's an accurate perception? Do you think that will change over time with more games and more information?
A: Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I will always try to do is put our football team in the best position to win the football game. Whether that's at times conservative; you go back to the flow of the Wisconsin game, and your defense is playing so great that you're kind of trying to give your team the best situation each and every time out to win the football game. So you lean into that.
I think the reality of it is, it goes back to kind of what I've said this whole press conference is we lack our identity right now across the board offensively, defensively, and on special teams to who we want to be and how we want to win football games. I think as we figure out that and continue to unveil that, the ability to be able to lean into a rhythm of a game and how you call the game to kind of lean into winning the football game.
I think those have always been my approach in terms of what we're doing because every game is different, every flow is different, and I think the great coaches that I've been around have the ability to adjust within the game to give the team the right rhythm to win the football game.
Q: You talked about the run game not being where it needs to be. You talked about the offensive line not being where it needs to be. How far away is it from where you want it to be? What do you guys need to do to get it to that point?
A: Again, I just go back to this. I have great belief in the humans. I think the first thing is do you have the right people? And we do in that room. We've got great coaches. We've got great players. I think the reality is our identity, what schemes, what allows us to find that consistency that we're lacking to help this offense continue to move itself forward. I think that's the starting point from my end of it.
So when you know you have that, I think that's the starting point, and the next piece is going to practice and fixing some of those areas of inconsistency and continue to demand a pathway forward.
Again, you're doing that at the pace of getting ready for a really talented opponent that's going to be a challenge to all of those inconsistencies. So what a great opportunity for this group to really grow itself forward.
Q: When you look ahead at the next couple months, last year people were curious what the response would look like after some struggles. What do you want to see from this team? What do you want to be able to look back on your team and show the Penn State fan base about your team?
A: I just say this, I would say from my end again we know what the standard of this program needs to look like and where we want it to be, and I think the frustration that is global, I think, is the same frustration we have because we don't want to let down this fan base and we don't want to let down our players and our coaches.
The reality is we're five games into building standards and expectations. As we continue to build this, adversity was going to be a part of this, and we are in it and we needed to be in it to be able to grow forward to be the team we want to become.
What I'm looking for is our response. Verbal response, even what I say, doesn't matter. It's what happens, how do we go get better, how do we fix our inconsistencies, and how do we show up and grow ourselves forward? I think that's the biggest thing from our players, our coaches, all of us is how we respond to the adversity that we're in.
Like I said, I think that's the great thing about this community and this program, I feel like every time that adversity is hit, it's always had this ability to be able to unify and come out of really hard times better than it was going into it. I think it's no different for our football team right now and our football program.
Again, words are great, but actions and getting better and growing ourselves forward is really critical for all of us.
Q: With everything that's gone on the last two weeks, if you had a sales pitch, what would be your pitch to fans thinking about going to the game on Saturday?
A: I would just hope this. Again, every single person within that have sprinted in our walls, even since Friday night coming off of that really tough plane ride home, understands what we represent. We've never cowered from it. We're not running from it, and we're not hiding from it. We have to be better.
We want to grow forward, and we're going to demand to grow forward.
The reality is it's going to happen. When that happens and how that happens, we're going to need everybody pulling in the same direction.
We've got an unbelievable fan base. I'm grateful for it and really appreciative for them. The great thing is they've been with us from day one, and my guess is they've always been with this program good days and tough days. So I'm really grateful to be in a program like that.