Get the lowdown on Joe Paterno's weekly press conference in our audio file below.
HEAR JOE PATERNO HERE.
SCOTT COLE'S QUICKCAP
1. Was the Indiana game in 2004 the turning point for
your program? What do you remember from that game?
Everybody wants to be smart. At thjis point, this
happened. At this point, that happened. Some people
who were closer to the situation knew the team was on
the verge of being a pretty good football team. Joe
doesn't remember much from that game except the goal
line stand.
2. How big a loss is Jerome Hayes for the defensive
front?
It's a big loss. Hayes was playing really really well.
The way he got hurt...Joe was watching the play when
he went down and thought he had the wind knocked out
of him. He was starting to get really good and they
will have to adjust.
3. Talk about the progress of the offense.
Joe thought the offense played well against Iowa.
They've been pretty good offensively except for
turning the ball over on the road. If you look at the
stats like yards per play and points scored...the two
games that they didn't have impressive statistics were
played against two really good teams that held the
ball and gave Penn State poor field position. Joe has
been defending Morelli and the offense week in and
week out because he felt the offense was performing
well.
4. Will Chris Bell and Phil Taylor play this weekend?
It depends on how well they practice.
5. Do you know Bill Lynch very well and how he has
handled the Indiana situation?
Joe talked with Ron Vanderlinden because he worked
with Lynch to get an idea of what his coaching style
is like. He met Lynch at the Big Ten preseason
meetings. He's a very bright coach. Indiana is in the
same situation as Penn State at 5-2, 2-2 in the Big
Ten. This is a critical game for both teams. Joe
doesn't know Bill Lynch, but he can see that he's
doing a good job. His team is playing well.
6. What is Andrew Quarless' playing status? How is
John Shaw recovering?
Shaw got hurt and fell behind. He's one of those kids
that has to practice. Physically, he's good, but he
has to be exposed to different situations in practice
mentally. He's second team now and whether he stays
there or not depends on how he practices.
Quarless has to practice better. Joe wasn't upset with
the dropped pass. He was more upset with the block
Quarless missed the play before the drop. He told Bill
Kenney to talk to Quarless about his blocking. Then,
he dropped the pass and Joe pulled him. Quarless
practiced really well yesterday, so they'll see how
things go this week before deciding how much he will
play. Shuler has been practicing well all season, so
Quarless shouldn't think he has the tight end job
locked down. Nobody should think they have their
position locked down.
7. Do you think you still need a road win before being
able to say how good the team is?
They had a tough situation at Michigan with the
officiating, but Joe thinks they have played well on
the road. Both teams that beat the Lions played great
games and didn't turn the ball over. They didn't play
well enough to win because they made the mistakes Joe
was afraid they would make like turning the ball over.
Joe is pleased with his football team. They're not
great, but they're good and getting better.
8. Will Indiana's offense be the biggest challenge of
the season for the secondary?
Indiana does a number of things very well and you have
to start with their quarterback. Joe is concerned
about going on the road. Can his team avoid turning
the ball over, show poise and handle adversity?
Indiana has a lot going for them. They only had the
ball 37 plays against Michigan State and still scored
27 points. It's going to be a challenge obviously, but
that's what the game is all about.
9. It's human nature to not treat every game equally.
How do you address the idea of not looking ahead to
Ohio State?
You make assumptions that it's human nature to not
treat every game equally. PSU is playing Indiana and
they will be a tough football game. Indiana can beat
PSU. They have to go on the road, protect the football
better than they have been and see if they can play
well enough to win. Joe goes one week at a time. He
can't worry about what is coming down the road.
10. Is taking the team on the road more difficult
preparation-wise?
They don't do anything different in practice. Fridays
are totally different obviously. They have to get
everyone on the bus and get to the airport, check in,
go through security and the whole bit. When you have a
good, mature football team with good leadership, it
shouldn't matter much.
11. Has the offensive line been one of the most
pleasant surprises?
Most of the year, they have been pretty good. They
lost a couple of kids physically that hurt. They lost
Elijah Robinson who Joe thought would be a
first-stringer. Dick Anderson and Bill Kenney have
done a good job. The linemen have played better as
they have been exposed to more situations. The coaches
made some adjustments and the kids started
anticipating things happening which comes with
experience. They're getting better all the time.
Hopefully, they'll hold up.
12. How important was it for Morelli to havbe the kind
of performance he did against Wisconsin?
Morelli has been pretty good for the past two years.
The games he has lost have been close, tough football
games. At times, the offensive line hasn't done as
good a job of pass protection as they would have
liked. Sometimes, they've been behind and had to force
the ball like they did at Ohio State last year. Joe
thinks he's a good football player. Last year, they
had Tony Hunt to carry the team. Now, as Kinlaw and
Royster get a little better in pass protection, it
gets easier for Morelli to read the coverage. Joe has
a hard time being critical of him.
13. Contrast how Tom Bradley has coached the defense
as opposed to what Jerry Sandusky did.
It's not fair to compare Tom with Jerry. Tom's a good
football coach. Joe doesn't want to take away from the
great contributons Jerry made, but Tom's his own man.
There are times that Joe disagrees with him, but
that's as it should be. Joe keeps coming back to what
a good coaching staff he has. Tom is one of their
better coaches.
14. Talk about Terrell Golden.
He's one of those guys that Joe has always had a great
deal of empathy for. He's paid his dues. He's never
had a lot of opportunities. They've done some things
with the offense to adapt to Golden's talents. Both he
and Kinlaw have been great. Nobody knew who they were.
Both of them have worked hard and waited for their
chance. Now they're taking advantage of it. People
don't realize how many plays Golden plays. He's on the
kicking teams. He's like a tight end as well with the
way he blocks. He's a really good football player.
15. How difficult is it to prepare for an athletic
quarterback like Kellen Lewis?
It's hard. He's very careful with the football. He's a
heck of an athlete. Having said that, he's got that
great big wideout who looks like he's about 8 feet 10.
They're scared to death of him and the option play.
Their quarterback is their leader and he's only a
sophoimore. They're going to be tough for a while.
16. Talk about the progress of the defensive line and
who will replace Hayes in the standup DE role?
Hayes will be difficult to replace. They went with
Maybin at times to give Hayes a rest. Maybin is
learning but he just doesn't gave the feel for things
that Hayes does yet. He's got the same athletic
ability and is going to be a good football player
though.
Odrick broke a couple of bones in his hand and will be
limited. Thank God they got Koroma back.
17. How have the off-field issues affected you
personalluy and how have you addressed them with the
team?
Joe isn't going to get into that. The team is fine.
18. Talk about Rich Ohrnberger and how he has overcome
the tendency to make mental mistakes earlier in his
career.
Ohrnberger was doing great until yesterday when he
moved before the snap on a fielgd goal attempt on
practice yesterday. Joe pulled him off the field and
asked Rich how dumb a dumb Dutchman can be. (laughs)
He's a good kid. The mistakes he makes are because
he's so intense. He's a tough competitior who hasn't
gotten his due. They've moved him right and left in
order to get him on the best guy on the other team's
defensive line. He hasn't had any easy games and he's
done very well. He's a really good football player.
19. Indiana leads the nation in sacks. What have they
done well?
They have two kids up front that are really quick and
that's going to be a problem for PSU. However, you
can't spend so much time worrying about the pass rush
that you forget about the pass patterns. They run some
blitzes that are really difficult to handle. They have
a linebacker that is really good as well.
20. Was it tough to decide to play Colasanti?
They had to play Colasanti because Bowman was hurt.
They had Josh Hull learning both outside positions.
Connor and Lee play a lot of football, a lot of plays.
They play on kicking teams. Joe has been concerned
about giving them a rest in practice. Ron Vanderlinden
said Colasanti was ready to play and Joe went with
that. He's practicing at inside linebacker and will
play.
21. How has Brent Carter handled the switch back to
running back?
Carter's a good football player. Originally, he was a
running back. Joe thought he might not get to play
much so they moved him to safety. He's a good athlete.
When they needed a running back, they had to make up
their minds whether to play Carter or Green. Carter
wasn't playing that much on defense, so they stuck him
in there. Jason Ganter is a good back up safety, so
that move made sense.
22. What kind of potential do you think Maurice Evans
has?
Being from Brooklyn, he's smart. He's disciplined. He
can handle smartasses (laughs). He's going to be a
pretty good football player. He's a good athlete.
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