FOS Audio: Joe Paterno's PC

If you can't listen to Paterno's comments catch our exclusive PC recap from Scott Cole below.

1. What did you learn about your team Saturday?

The team is pretty good, but they have to learn how to win a big game. Joe thinks he has a quarterback and a good, solid football team. They made too many mistakes. They can't turn over the ball that many times.

The offense didn't have good field position. The players hung in there and had a good practice yesterday. They're all right, but they have to learn how to win a big game on the road.

2. Evaluate Daryll Clark.

Daryll's going to be good one of these days, but the team's quarterback is Anthony Morelli. He did a heck of a job except for the option pitch. The interception was Joe's fault. He called that deep pass and it was thrown into the wind and got hung up.

3. What type of non-conference games would you like to see down the road? Is this 1-AA opponent a one time thing or will it become a regular occurrance?

Ask Northwestern. They just got licked by a 1-AA opponent at home. Youngstown is a good football team with a good tradition.

Penn State's schedule is fine. Their problem is always going to be how do they get seven home games so that they can finance the other varsity sports on campus.

4. Would you want to play Penn State if you were in the Youngstown State coach's shoes?

Youngstown is a good, solid football team. They have an outstanding quarterback. They have a fine tailback and a good punter. If Joe were in the YSU coach's shoes, he would be excited to come to Penn State and play.

As he said, New Hampshire went out to Northwestern and beat them. Joe thinks Northwestern is one of the better teams in the Big Ten but they got licked.

5. If the team had converted one or two of the opportunities they had in the first half, could the outcome have been different?

You can play the if game all day. They didn't take advantage of their opportunities and that's that. Notre Dame played very well. They didn't turn the ball over. Notre Dame beat Penn State fair and square. They outplayed and outcoached Penn State.

In the first half, PSU did have chances to stay in the game, but they let it get away.

6. Did you see the kind of improvement you were hoping to see in the offensive line on Saturday?

Joe thought they played better. They're a little bit more familiar with the scheme that Notre Dame used than what they saw against Akron. Whether they've improved enough for Joe to feel good about them remains to be seen.

7. Your take on the field goal unit?

The snaps were not perfect but certainly could have been handled. Obviously, they have had three bad plays in two games. They're practicing enough and doing the things they've always done. Sometimes, you just have to be careful not to overreact, but obviously a field goal early against Notre Dame might have put more pressure on them. The coaches are looking at it.

8. Talk about the defensive line's depth.

They played Odrick, Evans, Baker and Roach at Notre Dame. The line got tired in the first half because Notre Dame had 47 plays. But the coaches substituted.

9. Quinn had a lot of time to find a receiver. Are you concerned about putting more pressure on the QB?

Penn State sacked Quinn 3-4 times. They got pressure on him, but didn't handle some of the things they did very well. They converted 4 fourth downs.

Penn State had more first downs than Notre Dame did. Joe thought that the defense did a good job of putting pressure on Quinn, but they got tired the last 4-5 minutes of the first half.

They kept giving Notre Dame the football. When you have to play 47 plays in a half, you're going to get tired.

10. Update on BranDon Snow?

Snow's ready to play, but they got behind and stopped using a fullback in order to throw more. If they would play a little more with two backs, Hahn would still be ahead of Snow, but BranDon is working his way up there.

11. Are the mistakes that Anthony Morelli made on Saturday part of the maturing process?

You mean the fumble? Anthony got too aggressive and fumbled. Are the mistakes correctable? That's a stupid question. Of course the mistakes are correctable.

12. Talk about your 1966 team being honored this weekend.

It will be great to see those old guys.

13. What is it about you that allows you to relate to kids through five decades?

You'd have to ask the kids. Joe has enjoyed coaching and enjoyed being around the kids. He has tried to be a good disciplinarian when appropriate. He's tried to keep up with his players' lives after they're gone from Penn State in case he can help them.

14. How did the secondary perform against Notre Dame?

They did all right, but they didn't make the big play. Until you make those, you're not really going to be able to be a good football team. They played against a very well coordinated offense.

They didn't handle the tight end as well as they'll have to. They have to do a better job on that and that will be addressed. With Notre Dame's great wideouts and Quinn having such a good feel for things, they didn't do a good enou8gh job on the tight end.

Scirrotto had a chance to make an interception. Davis deflected a ball. Both of those guys haven't played much and they'll get better.

15. Are you paying as much attention to the special teams as you used to?

Look at the other guy. Their punter kicked the heck out of the ball. The fake punt was a bad coaching decision. Notre Dame had nothing to lose there and the coaches should have handled that differently.

Penn State's punting has been good. Going into the game, the coaches knew that Notre Dame covered kicks well and they did again on Saturday. The only thing that really went wrong was the fake punt and that was a poor coaching decision.

16. Are you working Kinlaw as the backup tailback?

Until Scott is 100%, Kinlaw is the backup. If Scott doesn't become 100% soon, they'll have to redshirt him.

17. Is Golden back and comment on Brendan Perretta?

Golden is not 100%. He tried to go yesterday and couldn't do it. He probably won't play against Youngstown.

Perretta played well.

18. What do you expect your leaders to do?

Joe would expect them to get together and go at it. In 1982, they lost badly to Alabama. The leaders got together and the team rebounded to win the national championship.

He hopes this team's leaders will get the team going in the right direction again.

19. Andrew Quarless started at Notre Dame. Has he moved up on the depth chart?

Quarless was in there on the first play because the coaches thought they could do something with him. He's not a starter yet but he has a bright future.

20. Hall's situation?

Back on the squad and practicing. Yesterday was the first day he has practiced since his return to the team that was not with the foreign squad. He's working his way back up, but he still has some things to prove to Joe.

21. Carter was on the Notre Dame trip but not Royster. Why was that?

Royster has a shoulder injury and isn't healthy yet.

22. Are you debating about whether to use Phillip Taylor?

Joe thought Taylor had played. They have to make up their minds on Taylor and McEowen. One of them has to play before the season is over. Which one will depend on how practice goes.

23. Are you happy with the way the team has bounced back from the loss?

Joe doesn't want to get carried away, but they had a good meeting yesterday. Their tails weren't dragging and they tried to get something out of practice. He'll see how they do today with a tougher practice.

24. Are you surprised at how quickly Sean Lee has become a good football player?

No, Joe isn't surprised. He was a heck of a high school player and literally carried his basketball team to the WPIAL championship as a senior.

He's an excellent athlete and an excellent football player. He's got a bright future.