BlueWhiteIllustrated.com - Complete Joe Paterno post-game transcript

September 5, 2009

Penn State Sports Information

* Courtesy of Penn State Sports Information

Joe Paterno wasn't particularly pleased with his Nittany Lions' second-half performance against Akron this afternoon. Find out why by reading this complete post-game press conference transcript!

*** Transcript ***

What didn't you do in the second half that you did well in the first half?

We had a terrible second half. We got soft; we thought the game was over. We weren't very sharp. There are a lot of young kids and they thought the thing was over at halftime. We just did not have any consistency in the second half. I was disappointed with the second half, but we still won the football game.

Were you satisfied with the timing of the passing game?

I thought it was very good. Some of the guys that we have haven't seen much of made a couple big-time catches. We've got a little different type of passing game because of the size of the new receivers. Some catches that were made, we might not have been able to make last year because those guys didn't have the long arms and the reach that some of these kids have. Overall, it was pretty good. It's been a tough preseason as I try to tell everybody. We only had one week to ourselves: one week of spring practice, one week of summer school, one week free then the next week, we had classes. I think overall, our kids did a pretty good job.

Were you hoping to get [Kevin] Newsome in a little sooner or was that about what you were planning?

I don't plan those kinds of things because you never know what's going to happen. I had absolutely no plans to get him in, but if the opportunity presented itself, I was going to get him in. I could second guess myself; I might say "hey, maybe we should've gotten him in a series earlier." He got his nose wet and that's what you hope you can get done anyway.

Did jogging onto the field mean anything special to you after last year?

I don't think I could beat that kid from Jamaica. I don't think he's worried about me. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I've been reluctant to do much running since it's been less than a year since they replaced the hip. The doctors have been really great. They've done a super job for us. I was glad I could come out, but I hope as the season goes on, I'll be a little better.

What were your impressions on Collin Wagner kicking the football?

I don't think he had a good day. He's better than that. Maybe it was his first time out there. He's been much better in practice. I have high hopes for him; he has a chance to be really good. He has a little better leg than Kelly had. He's got to go out there and have confidence in himself. He was punching at the ball. We'll see what happens. Again, that was the first time it's really been his game.

Could you evaluate the running game? Would you have rather run the ball in the second half to see what you had?

I would have rather run it, but in all fairness, they had the 3-5 [defense] and put an awful lot of people around the football. They made it tough to run. We could've thrown the ball more. In fact, I was arguing with the guys upstairs to throw a couple more passes. The line coaches wanted to work on the running game. When I saw what they were doing defensively, we had to throw it. We'll have to be a better running team.

Can you tell us about Bowman's injury?

I don't have the slightest idea. He practiced the last couple days; I thought he was 100 percent. In fact, I asked someone what was bothering him, and they said his leg was bothering him.

How do you feel that [sophomore Nathan] Stupar played?

It's hard to say how he played because I'm watching the whole football game. I saw Stupar running a couple plays. I don't watch one guy; I try to get a feel for the flow. I watch the line of scrimmage to see if we're beating the other guys across the line. I take turns looking at the secondary to see if they're reacting pretty well. I try to just watch different things because you can't watch it all. It's impossible to watch it all, so I try to make sure I watch every facet of the game. I saw Stupar do a couple good things, but he did more than I saw. Maybe he made some mistakes; I don't know. But if you held me to it, I think he played a pretty good game.

One of your true freshmen, Devon Smith played a lot today. He was in the game early. What did you see from him in camp that made you want to use him?

He's got great speed and can catch the ball. As he gets in there and gets a little better feel, he'll be able to make some big plays for us. When he gets a step on you, he's tough to catch.

There have been years when new wide receivers, and even an established quarterback didn't look this polished together. Did Daryll work with these guys an inordinate amount in similar situations in the offseason?

I think number one, these guys were all around. It isn't like Zug or Moye or Brackett haven't been around. They had worked with Daryll, so there's a little jump start on that. I think the point you're making is a good one. Ordinarily, with a new set of receivers, it takes a while. Is the quarterback getting the feel for the wideout? People don't realize how sophisticated the timing is. If a quarterback gets a good feel for the wideout, he can just about throw it at any time. He knows he can get rid of the football "right now." I think they did a good job today on the timing. I thought we were pretty good; better than I thought we would be.

Is that a credit to Daryll in his offseason work or not?

I'm sure they did offseason work. They better have done some things in the offseason.

Could you get a feel for how Sean Lee performed today?

It's more than just his athletic ability. It's his leadership; his poise. I think Lee played pretty well. I wouldn't watch Lee. I would watch Stupar more than I would watch Lee. When we played [Bani] Gbadyu, I watched Gbadyu. Those kind of unknown qualities. It's like the secondary; I didn't watch all four of them the same way I watched one or two of them. You try to pick your spots.

What did you think about Moye's first start today?

I think he did well. I don't think we took advantage of a couple things that Akron was doing in the secondary in order to stop the run. I think Moye knew what was going on and did well overall.

Could you comment on how you thought the secondary played today?

I thought they did well in the first half, but their reaction to the ball wasn't as good in the second half. We didn't tackle as well in the second half. We just seemed to come out flat, but I think the first half, they played well. We played A.J. Wallace, which I was not going to do, but A.J. did a good job in summer school.

Was there a reason Newsome didn't get in earlier?

We weren't playing well. We were flopping around all over the place, so I didn't want to put him in there where he couldn't have success. I wasn't going to stick him in there when the offensive line wasn't blocking very well. We weren't doing some things well enough that I would want him to get in there and have a setback. You like the kid to go in and have success if you can. I think he had enough success to feel pretty good about himself.

Given that, does he need to get some more snaps for these first few nonconference games?

I don't know. You don't build a football team trying to keep this guy happy and that guy happy. If it's appropriate, he will go in, but I don't have any plans for him to get in a play next week. Obviously, Syracuse is a lot better football team than people thought they were. They gave Minnesota a tough time and Minnesota thought they were going to be good this year. They have a lot of people back.

Comment on your offensive line today. You talked about the second half, that you didn't think they blocked well.

I thought we were very ordinary in the running game. We didn't get the ball to the tight ends enough. As part of the second guess thing for me, I would've liked to have been able to get the tight ends more involved. Quarless got a little banged up and didn't play much in the second half. Shuler's been hurt; he hasn't practiced much. Overall, I thought it was alright. They weren't dominant, and then again, without making excuses for them, we saw some things in there we had not really practiced a lot against. They did some stunts in there, they had eight guys around the ball a lot and seven guys around the football. They had the 3-4 and then they dropped a safety around there early in the game. They made a couple tackles on the bubble screen and a couple other things. Some of that stuff, we really hadn't spent much time with. We didn't know what we were going to get. But overall, it was good.

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