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University of Minnesota Athletics
Penn State Post-game Quotes
10/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Penn State vs. Minnesota
October 16, 2009
Q: How do you like instant replay now?
A: I've always been for instant replay, in fact, I was the one guy that started griping about it way back. If we had instant replay we would've won two games when Tony Johnson was inbounds and they called him out of bounds in a big game. And we had another one. I started screaming for it then.
Q: Were your coaches telling you that Derek Moye was inbounds?
A: I didn't call it, the referees did, give them credit. I didn't have a charged timeout. I didn't call a timeout or anything. The guy upstairs must've told them, 'we got to replay this thing.' You try to make sure that the better team wins and if there's a call in there sometimes it doesn't happen that way. I think the instant replay is a good thing. It's a good thing for everybody.
Q: Moye ended up having a really big day, has he come along a little quicker than you expected?
A: No, he's a redshirt-sophomore, a third-year player. He was a heck of a high school player and he played well last year. We had high hopes for him and he's done well. Once in a while he gets a little careless and takes his eye off the football and wants to run with it, but each week he gets better, he blocks well. He's a big man. He's a good, tough kid and he's got the making of a real good one.
Q: [Moye's high school team] didn't use him much as a wide out, how did you get a look at him at that position?
A: We saw him play basketball, I think Jay [Paterno] went up there with Tom [Bradley] and watched him. I know I saw him on tape, and I knew his family from way back. His father was a heck of an athlete, they're Beaver Falls [Pa.] people originally. I knew of him, but if you've seen him play basketball you know what kind of athlete he is. He's a really good basketball player.
Q: Was the plan to ease Sean Lee into the game, do you feel like he is going to get more time going forward?
A: I think Sean might've gotten a little tired in there, I don't know. The field was a little tough, the weather wasn't good. I think he'll keep working his way in there.
Q: Can you talk about the defense on Eric Decker?
A: We basically challenged A.J. Wallace to handle him, but he had help. What we had to do, what we felt we had to do, was to get pressure on the quarterback without sending a lot of people, where we would have to go one-on-one with Decker. Fans didn't see much of him today, boy he's some player, he can play, he's a great player. We changed up on him and tried to keep the quarterback where we had enough pressure that we didn't allow those deep passes enough time to develop. The people up front did a really good job, we played a really good defensive football game. We were sloppy offensively with all the penalties.
Q: What led to all the sustained offense and major advantage in time of possession?
A: We did move the ball well, I think that was obvious, but we didn't do a particularly good job in the red zone. We came away with a couple of field goals, and then we missed another one. I think the penalties hurt us, I think a couple of dropped passes hurt us. I don't think we played a really sharp game offensively. We played hard and made plays when we had to make them. [Daryll] Clark did that, got the ball out there to Moye a couple of times. Overall it was a good performance, we did have the ball and we dominated the whole third quarter. When we came out [of halftime] we didn't do well that first series, but we controlled the rest of the quarter doing a good job. We played well, we played hard, but we were sloppy and careless with the penalties.
Q: A lot of people thought there would be a lot of empty seats [due to the parking restrictions at Beaver Stadium], can you comment on the crowd and the attendance?
A: I think that's a tribute to the fans and their loyalty and spirit. I know the kids appreciate it. I thought the crowd was good, a couple times they got into it. I hadn't thought about people not coming, you have to give the University some credit, they parked people [all over]. One of my nieces, she is from Harrisburg and they stopped at the Wal-Mart and said they were tailgating at the Wal-Mart and they were bussing them in. They like to come, they like to have a little fun, they like to see Penn State play. That's a great, great feeling for the kids who play, I know it is for me.
Q: What happened to Stephfon Green, is he hurt? And also, can you tell us what happened to Knowledge Timmons, was he not ready to go?
Knowledge Timmons is ready to go, but the plan was to challenge A.J. Wallace to get with Decker. Knowledge is a lot shorter than A.J. and we were worried if we put Knowledge in and put him on Decker that some of the jump ball contests might hurt us. We thought that A.J. would do a better job. [Timmons] has been doing well, for this big game, Wallace was better for the opponent than Knowledge would be. Now Green, I know he's hurt, but I don't know how badly. It was probably an ankle [injury].
Q: Are you pleased with A.J.'s response when you asked him to step up and deal with Decker today?
A: I've been pleased with A.J. doing a lot of things we've challenged him with. Originally, we weren't going to play him for two games until he proved to me he was going to class and some other things that he hadn't been doing. He does have ability and he's bright. He just wasn't working at it in the classroom or on the practice field so he just decided, 'hey, it's going to be done a certain way, if I got to play I have to do it that way.' When he did that, I think he started to realize what it took to be really good.
Q: What's your thinking of the field goal attempts versus the pooch punt, what were the decisions about?
A: Because he was short on the 49 yarder, we're going to back it up three yards and he's going to make it? We just didn't think that was the thing to do at the time. We went for one because it was early in the game and 13 points, they score twice and it's a different ball game. Any sort of thing can happen in a ball game, a safety can pop up in there some place along the way. So you take the one and as I said, it was early in the game and we moved on.
Q: Royster seemed to be running a bit harder today, what do you think attributed to his strong day?
A: He did, he has been. I don't think he would admit it, but he had a period there where he was sick with the flu and the whole bit. He kept saying, 'I'm okay, I'm okay,' but he never quite had the spring in his legs that he had a year ago, and I think today he started to come around and feel a little better. I thought he had a good game, I thought he played well.
