Paterno press conference transcript 10/26/04

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Q: What more do you believe you and your staff can do to help get the offense going?

PATERNO: I am not sure what we can do. We, obviously, are not playing well. We will work at it. I don't have any magic bullet or anything like that. We just have to get a little bit more consistent and those kinds of things. We are making too many mistakes. We have been playing against some pretty good defensive football teams. That is the league we are in. If we are going to compete, we are going to have to do better than we are doing.

Q: Some Iowa players and some of your players said that the Iowa defense often called out your plays when the offense lined up Saturday. Does that concern you?

PATERNO: It does, if they are right. Yes, it should concern me. It concerns me if it is accurate. Let's leave it at that.

Q: Whose idea was it to move Levi Brown to right tackle instead of his natural position? Why was that done?

PATERNO: We thought he would be able to do a better job on #31, Matt Roth.

Q: A lot has been said in recent weeks about the system of play calling where both Jay Paterno and Galen Hall both share the duties. What are the advantages you see in that setup and the drawbacks, if any?

PATERNO: I am not so sure that it is exactly that way. There are certain situations I go over during the week that they decide that Jay will call certain plays in certain situations and Galen will call most of the game with some input from Dick Anderson. It is not exactly the way you said it. Basically, you are right, but all of those things are decided prior to the game. They spend hours looking at situations and making decisions as to what they want to do and they do it pretty much as a staff. When we get into certain situations, Galen turns it over to Jay and vice versa.

Q: When there is such a disparity in the results between the offense and the defense, how do you keep things from disintegrating into finger pointing and that kind of stuff?

PATERNO: You have to be careful when you start making statements about how vast the difference is. We are playing against some good defensive football teams. We have to realize that. If you are on the other side of the picture and you are the coach of Iowa, they didn't score any touchdowns. I think you have a bunch of kids who like each other and are working hard. It has not been hard for me to keep them motivated. It would be unfair to them if I said it was. I thought they came out yesterday and were all attentive. I don't sense any finger pointing. As I have said many times, I don't point fingers at anybody. I point fingers at myself. Most of the kids are in the same boat.

Q: With the exception of Zack Mills, are you getting the kind of leadership you wanted from your veteran players?

PATERNO: There aren't a lot of veterans. I have no clear-cut answer to any of the problems we have. I think we just have to keep working at it, put the ball in the end zone a couple of times and go from there. As far as leadership, I think we have some kids that are trying really hard all of the time and are trying to get some other people to work as they are working. I have no problem with any of those intangibles. I, obviously, have some problems with the fact that we are a couple of touchdowns away from being a pretty good football team. That is where we are. To go around and say we are not having leadership from this guy or that guy, I really don't feel that way.

Q: You have made some switches on the offensive line. What do you think has been the most disappointing thing to you about the offensive line as the season has developed?

PATERNO: There has been a little inconsistency. I think they lost a little confidence in themselves because they have had some breakdowns in key situations. Again, I think that is a result of maybe just what you said that we have made some switches and so forth. I just think we have to get a little bit more confident, consistent, don't make so many mental mistakes, concentrate a little bit better and not get discouraged if you get licked every once in awhile because we are going to get licked every once in awhile. This is a tough league. We have played good, defensive football teams. You don't want to hear that, but that is what we have done. Some of those kids are tough to handle.

Q: I was wondering when you look at Ohio State offensively, do you see some similarities to some of the problems that you've had or are their problems completely different?

PATERNO: Ohio State, obviously, made a quarterback switch last week. Smith has done a good job. They have struggled a little bit as we have with getting some consistency. So, in that sense, in some areas they don't have the problems we have. They have a couple of things going for them that we don't have going for us right now. Obviously, they have struggled. In the sense that they are trying to find a personality, they are probably pretty much like we are.

Q: Are you concerned at all that some of the struggles with the offense can't be fixed with a hard practice or another week of work? Do you see anything that may run deeper than that?

PATERNO: With the bumps and the bruises, it is doubtful that Zack will play this week. Now we are back to where we have to get somebody else to replace Michael Robinson as a wideout. Those kinds of things bother me. Other than that, we can make improvements and we will make improvements.

Q: Is it just the accumulation of hits that Zack Mills has taken or is there any particular reason why he cannot play? Will Anthony Morelli be in the mix?

PATERNO: He actually got a concussion early in the game against Iowa and we didn't know it. He had some problems reading signals and those kinds of things. We just have to be careful with him. He has taken a lot of tough hits. He didn't practice yesterday and I doubt if he will practice today. When I say he may not play on Saturday, we have to be ready for Michael Robinson to play quarterback and then somebody else has to start at the flanker.

Q: Talk about the development of Mark Rubin.

PATERNO: I was disappointed that one thing we didn't do very well was get the ball to Mark Rubin last week. They rolled up on him. We were all right for a while when we got the ball to Michael Robinson a couple of times. I think he is going to be a fine wideout. He works awfully hard. He is tough and has really good hands. I think he has been a big addition for our program. He is a good kid, student and the whole bit.

Q: Here in Columbus, we are a little bit removed from the mood in State College. I know the age question has come up again. Do you find it amusing or somewhat disappointing that you can be president of the country at 77, but you supposedly can't run a football team?

PATERNO: If I can't get up in the morning and go to work and if I don't go out on the practice field and I can't run around and demonstrate a little bit and I can't be enthusiastic, then I would probably think about it. We had a guy in our house for dinner by the name of Don Bellisario who is a television producer from Penn State who is 70 years old and he said the worst thing man ever invented was dates. I was teasing him about how long he was going to produce and write for television. He has, obviously, been a very successful producer and writer and that is how he responded to that. He looks great at 70 and you wouldn't believe he was 70. I don't feel 77. That is not my problem. My problem is not winning games. That is my problem.

Q: You mentioned that inconsistency is one of the problems for this team. How do you improve that? Is it reps in practice or reps in the game?

PATERNO: There again, so many of the questions that are asked this morning, I wish I had an answer because we have been working on the same problems for a long time and we haven't really been able to get some of these kids to concentrate a little bit better and so forth. You get to the point where you think you will take some younger kids and they will get it done. I don't know. I think you have to just stay after the things that you have to do better. We have cut the offense back because of the fact that we have been inconsistent. We don't do as many things as we would like to do. Until we do the things we are doing better, I don't think it makes any sense to go on and do something else. You just have to stay at it.

Q: You said you had no clear-cut answers to any of the problems you have had. Have you ever been in this position before where you didn't have any answers to problems?

PATERNO: I don't have any answers in the sense to the kind of answers you want. The answer is to go to work and get better, but that is not what you want to hear. I am not na?ve. You are looking for, "Well, do we do this or do that? Switch this to that and make this guy do?" There are no answers that way right now. Today we have practice. I had to cut practice back today because we have five kids who have 6:30 tests. Two of them are tailbacks. Austin Scott and Tony Hunt have 6:30 tests today, which means they have to be off the field. They go from the field to a test. So I have to cut back practice. I have some problems that I knew we would have and that we have always had. I just have to figure out a way that we can handle those. I have always been in this kind of situation in the sense of getting better. We just haven't played as many good football teams in a row or have played against some people that are as equal or better than we are physically as players. We have played some good football team. Iowa did not play a great game and gave us a chance to beat them, but the other guys like Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin are really good football teams. We have been competitive. We have a good, competitive football team that I have to figure out how I can help them score a couple of more points.

Q: Do you think Anthony Morelli is adequately prepared to play against Ohio State should you need him?

PATERNO: No.

Q: Why not?

PATERNO: He is not adequately prepared.

Q: Does he not know the plays?

PATERNO: He is not adequately prepared.

Q: You said that Zack Mills got a concussion early in the game against Iowa. Do you remember which play that was on? How do you prepare an offense after a performance like that when you don't know who is going to be quarterback and where Michael Robinson is going to play?

PATERNO: No, I don't know which play. Michael Robinson is going to be the quarterback. You have to improvise and try to do some things that people you have can do.

Q: You talked about the offensive line's confidence. How about your own confidence? You have been in an unprecedented run for you. How do you regroup from that? Has it been a blow to you? How do you move on from that?

PATERNO: Obviously, I struggle with, "Can I do something better?" It wouldn't be fair for me not to do that. I get very upset when people are critical of the assistants because I think the assistants are doing a heck of a job, they work hard, they are all good teachers and know what is going on. We have had some things that maybe I could have helped them with. I don't know. As far as confidence, I think we will get it done. I just don't know if I can get it done this week. I really thought we were going to win the last two football games. We prepared so well for them. I am disappointed, obviously, that we didn't get a couple of things done. You are right. It is not easy, but I still feel like we will get it done.

Q: You said earlier that Galen Hall calls plays in certain situations and Jay Paterno calls them in certain situations and that is determined during the week. Do you help them determine that during the week and are you involved in any play calling during the game?

PATERNO: I haven't been much. I get involved in the preparation in the sense that they will prepare what they want to do. We are third and eight some plays and they will have two, three or four things that they think that they want to do and they will submit that to me tonight after they have had a chance to breakdown movies and I have looked at movies and then I may say, "Hey, I don't think we want this." I don't add most of the time. I just say, "I think you have too many in there. Why don't we settle on this? Can this guy handle that?" I try to be helpful and add whatever feelings I have about what they can do and what they can't do as far as the players. I think they do a really good job. I think you guys are being very critical of the wrong people, but that is your business.

Q: The defense has seen the emergence of some players this year in Dan Conner and Paul Posluszny is kind of coming to his own and Lavon Chisley this last weekend. What has Lavon done over the summer and how has he improved as a football player?

PATERNO: Lavon is an outstanding athlete for a big man. I think Lavon had to grow up a little bit. Lavon had to realize that he had a lot of ability and that he was wasting a lot of it. He played very well on Saturday. I think that is maturity. He is a good athlete.

Q: After reviewing the film, did you see anything you really liked from Scott Davis and Levi Brown on the right side?

PATERNO: I saw some things I liked, yeah. You would see one good thing and then you would run the ball and lose two yards. Again, it still comes down to consistency.

Q: Can you talk about where Robbie Gould stands right now as far as confidence after last week?

PATERNO: You would probably have to talk to him about that. I don't know why he wouldn't be confident. He has really got a lot of ability. He is just the kind of kid that has to learn to concentrate a little bit more on each kick. You would have to ask him. I have never detected a lack of confidence in Robbie Gould.

Q: How is your confidence in Robbie Gould?

PATERNO: He has a great leg. He has everything to be a great kicker. I think he is going to be fine. He is going to hit a couple in a row and it will be all over. As I said after the game, kickers are like golfers. Some days they putt the devil out of the ball and other days they don't putt it so well. I think he has to just settle down a little bit, concentrate and I think he will be OK.

Q: Is there such a thing as the whole program being under so much pressure? How do you explain all of the little things that have gone wrong and not being able to get started in these games? Do you think people are too tight or what?

PATERNO: I think there are a lot of things and you have seen the games as much as I have. You have seen us make a 20-yard play to start the game on one drive after we have considered certain plays and they call our tackle for lining up offsides on offense, for not being on the ball. When we sent the report to Dave Parry, he says, "It was a bad call." Those kinds of things happen to us. It is very easy to generalize and easy to start to panic about different things. I don't think any of the things that are going through your head are problems. I really don't. I think we can get started. We were ahead 2-0 on Saturday. We couldn't take advantage of it.

Q: Why isn't the offense any better than it is?

PATERNO: A lot of it has been exactly what we have been talking about. We have had a couple of drives, missed a field goal and we had a couple of drives where we had penalties. We are killing ourselves. You start out 1st and 15, 2nd and 18 and somebody breaks down on a pass. Yes, your observation is correct. To think that there is some hidden thing there if that is what you are suggesting, I don't think.

Q: You said, "You guys are being critical of the wrong people." Who should anybody be critical of with the struggles you are having?

PATERNO: You should be critical of me. I am the boss. I hate it when you guys are critical of kids or critical of the staff. I know what is going on and I know what kind of coaches I have. If I didn't think they were doing their job, I would do something. I am not sure how critical we should be of anybody. I think we should look back and realize that we are playing against some people that are good football teams and may be playing with some kids that are a little bit out-manned or a little bit out-experienced or something like that. That is the attitude I have to take. You get to the point where you can't be young forever.

Q: The fans are angry and frustrated about the last few seasons. Are you concerned about losing their moral or financial support?

PATERNO: I think the fans have been absolutely super. You would be amazed how many letters I get telling me to hang in there. I appreciate their support. I don't think you could ever ask for crowds to be any better than they were the last two weeks.

Q: You just said that the one person everyone should be critical of is yourself. As you look at it, what are the areas where you think you can do a better job?

PATERNO: I am not sure, but I still think that is where it has to be done.

First published on October 26, 2004 at 12:00 am