Penn State coach Joe Paterno held his weekly press conference at the Beaver Stadium media room Tuesday. Hear what he had to say below.
Listen to Paterno's PC
Read a recap of the PC here:
1. After watching the tapes, assess the progress of
your team going into the Big Ten.
Joe isn't sure. The team hasn't been under duress.
They're still in the stage of finding out how good
they are. They don't feel bad about where they are,
but they have a lot of work left to do.
2. Assess Justin King's peformance against Buffalo and
how he will match up aghainst Michigan's wideouts,
specifically Mario Manningham?
Manningham, Arrington and Massey are really good
wideouts. Justin played all right against Buffalo. He gets a little careless sometimes and doesn't
finish things the way he is supposed to. But, he's a
good football player and Joe expects him to play well
against Michigan.
3. How do you prepare for two difrerent quarterbacks
in Henne and Mallett?
You don't do that. You look at how good Michigan is
overall. They have a good offensive line and Hart is a
great tailback. Henne has played well against PSU and
is a good quarterback, but it doesn't matter whether
he plays or the other kid does. You have to prepare
for what the other guy can do with the personnel they
have. Michigan can do a lot because they have great
players at key spots. No matter who plays quarterback,
he'll have a lot of options to go to.
4. Is Austin Scott still the starting running back and
is this a situation where both tailbacks will play
each week?
Both tailbacks will play. Sometimes Austin gets
careless with the football and Joe felt it was
important to sit Austin to send a message that it
doesn't matter how good you are, you have to hang onto
the football. Look at Mike Hart. He's one of the best
tailbacks Penn State has ever had to play against and
he's only fumbled once or twice in his entire career.
Scott's a good back and so is Kinlaw. Both of them
will play.
5. Do you feel the key to this game is stopping Mike
Hart?
Sure, if he runs for 200 yards against Penn State, it
will be a tough day. However, you can't underestimate
how well they throw the ball down the field. The
wideouts are tough. Their offensive line makes it
tough to get to the quarterback. Their offensive scheme
is good. Yes, they have to stop Hart, but not at any
cost because then Michigan will be able to throw down
the field.
6. How do you feel how the Penn State-Michigan rivalry
has developed?
Like most of the Big Ten games, they're close,
competitive games. Some Penn State has won. Some
they've lost. The last two times Penn State has gone
to Mchigan, they've lost on the last play. That builds
up the rivalry. They recruit some of the same players.
Michigan has had some good Pennsylvania kids recently
like Henne and Breaston. It's a good rivalry.
7. How important is Knowledge Timmons to the special
teams units? Was he injured against Buffalo?
Knowledge wasn't injured against Buffalo. He's doing a
good job. He's going to be a good football player.
He's his own worst enemy at times because he's very
emotional. As he matures, he's getting more under
control and playing better. He's an emotional,
enthusiastic kid. You've gotta love him. That's not
meant to be derogatory. It's just an analysis of the
kid. He's going to be a good player.
8. Is there something about Michigan that makes the
team tighten up?
Every year is different. Playing at Michigan is fun.
It's a great crowd. Joe looks at things a little
differently than the media does.
9. What's the situation at right guard and will
Wisniewski be a factor the rest of the season?
John Shaw's hurt and probably shouldn't have played
against Notre Dame. Joe doubts he'll play much this
week. Wisniewski's a good prospect. He's still a true
freshman and you wish that you had someone with more
experience to put in there. Michigan has a good solid
defense and is difficult to run the ball against. You
have to be careful not to read too much into that
Oregon score. Michigan did well against their running
game.
Joe hopes they don't have to use Wisniewski a lot, but
right now, it looks like they will.
10. Do you buy into the idea that this is a down year
for the Big Ten?
What's down and what's up? Ohio State had a great win
on the West Coast. Wisconsin's a heck of a football
team. Michigan had a bad start. Iowa got beat by Iowa
State. Michigan State beat a Pitt team that's getting
better all the time. All Joe can say is Michigan's a
heck of a football team even though they're 1-2. They
manhandled Notre Dame. Appalachian State was a fluke.
They didn't understand how good that team is. Oregon's
a great football team. Their quarterback is terrific.
The media gets paid to make those perfect predictions,
so Joe will leave that analysis up to them.
11. Have you been pleased with the team's focus so far
this week after losing focus against Buffalo?
Joe chewed the team out last week after they didn't
practice well. Buffalo is a better team than they're
given credit for. They have a good quarterback and
beat Temple badly. The coaches think Buffalo will win
7 or 8 games in the MAC. The players would be better
to ask about where their focus is.
12. What are your thoughts about Norwood's touchdown
catch and how important has he become to the offense?
He has been a big part of the offense for a long time.
Joe isn't sure whether he caught the ball or not, but
he thinks Norwood caught it. Norwood's a very smart
football player. He's aware of a lot of things. The
quarterbacks like to throw the ball to him because he
finds openings in coverage and runs precise routes.
He's a good wideout. If he were two inches taller and
a step faster, he'd be sensational.
13. What's Tony Davis' status and what do you think of
Mark Rubin's performance?
Rubin did well. He's getting comfortable there and Joe
thinks he has found the right position now. He has had
to learn to play faster and he's getting there. Tony
Davis will be held out of most contact drills this
week, but he should be able to play this weekend.
14. Have you done anything special to get the team
ready for its first road game?
Not really. The older guys will handle that. Joe will
talk to the team about the roiutine., Once you blow
the whistle, what are you gonna do? You play. If the
crowd is going to be a problem and PSU had an
inexperienced quarterback, Joe might worry. But
Morelli and Clark have been on the road. The only
question is whether the team is good enough.
15. Do you feel better about team leadership now?
Slowly, as things have gone along, people like Golden,
Connor and Lee have stepped forward. Morelli is
getting there as well. The offensive line is rounding
into shape. Lucian did a good job in Shaw's place.
They're starting to feel good about where they are,
but they won't know for sure until the team is in a
tough game. They have been improving and improving and
they are on the verge of being a pretty good football
team.
16. Is it tough to get a good read on Michigan?
No, it's not tough. If they make the field goal
against Appalachian State, they win that game. Oregon
did some great things against Michigan. Their
quarterback did some really good things. Then Oregon
beat Fresno State big. Fresno had gone into triple
overtime with Texas A&M, who is now 3-0, the previous
week. Michigan's a good football team.
Joe looked at all three game tapes. They're a tough
football team. They have one of the best punters in
college football. They have guys that make big plays
when they need them. Penn State is going to play a
heck of a football team.
17. Status of Eliades and Koroma?
Koroma is still not practicing. Eliades practiced last
week and could have played last week.
18. Has Rodney Kinlaw improved his patience as a
runner?
Kinlaw is getting better. He and Scott are both
becoming better tailbacks.
19. Is Morelli in the stage of his career where you
can win a game where he has to throw a lot for a lot
of yardage?
Yes, Morelli's been a good quarterback. The only time
he has gotten into trouble is when pass protection has
broken down. Joe's not worried about Morelli. He's the
least of Joe's worries.
20. Talk about the challenge Michigan has become for
Penn State.
Joe doesn't look at it like that. They've lost some
really close games to Michigan. There are times things
just don't go your way for a while. If you have
patience...If you don't panic and try a lot of
different things and listen to the media and
accomodate critics, then you'll get back to where you
want to be. There have been games that Penn State has
played well and if they had gotten a break here or
there, they could have won those games.
21. What was Bo Schembechler's legacy?
Joe never coached against Bo. Bo had a problem with
the way Penn State was voted into the Big Ten. Only
the university presidents had a vote. THe athletic
directors and coaches had no say. Bo didn't like that
and it caused a shouting match between he and Joe at
one point. But Joe really liked Bo. You always knew
where you stood with him. He and Woody Hayes dominated
the Big Ten for a long time. Now there are some great
young coaches in the league. The league has a little
different personality now than when Bo and Woody were
running the show.
22. How much of a challenge has it become to make sure
everyone stays involved in the passing game?
If you're going to have a good football team, you
can't plan to give someone 5-6 catches a game. You
take what the defense gives you and throw the ball to
the open receivers. They're out there to win the game,
so the wideouts have to block their butts off and then
take advantage of any balls that are thrown their way.
Chris Bell is a great young receiver and didn't catch
a pass last week. It just turned out that Norwood got
a couple, Butler got a couple. Golden only caught one
pass but it was a touchdown. You can't decide
beforehand who is going to get the ball. You just have
to be ready to make a contribution in every area of
the game.
23. Is there any plan to take advantage of Michigan's
problems defending mobile quarterbacks with Clark?
No. They had problems with Oregon's quarterback
specifically because he's a heck of a player. Penn
State is going to go out there, play their game and
see what happens. Joe is sure Lloyd Carr is preparing
the same way.
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