Penn State's Paterno not worrying about future yet
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Penn State coach Joe Paterno: "There's a lot of things that go on now that takes a little longer to develop into a real steady, consistent football team."
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's four losses this season have been by 20 points or more. That has never happened before in Joe Paterno's 45 seasons as coach.
But he isn't ready to give up on this disappointing season and look to the future.
"We'll worry about next year as soon as this season's over," he said Tuesday at his weekly news conference.
The Nittany Lions (6-4, 3-3 Big Ten Conference) have been outscored, 119-33, in their four losses, and their average margin of defeat is 21 1/2 points.
Yet Paterno, whose Lions play Indiana (4-6, 0-6) Saturday at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., believes his team has been more competitive than the scores indicate in lopsided loss to Alabama, Iowa, Illinois and Ohio State.
"There's a lot of things that go on now that takes a little longer to develop into a real steady, consistent football team," he said. "And I don't see any reason why that won't happen with this club. They are hard workers and good kids.
"And I think that we can look forward to ... we have got Indiana and then we have got Michigan State, and Michigan State can win the Big Ten championship. We have got a couple of tough games to play here."
Penn State, which began the year ranked No. 19 in The Associated Press preseason poll, started just eight seniors this past weekend at Ohio State -- four on offense, three on defense and one kicker. The other 16 starters, including the punter, are underclassmen, and Paterno blamed some of that inexperience, plus the fact that 16 players have missed time with injuries, for contributing to the lopsided losses.
"I thought we played a tough schedule," he said. "Going into the season, you figure we played three of the toughest teams, three of the better teams in the country on the road. ... So, I think there's a lot of things.
"And the fact that we had 59 kids on the squad that are freshmen or sophomores. And you are bound to have those days where you can't make something happen for yourself, and anything adverse that happens, is probably a little bit more dramatic than it would be ... but we are a very young football team.
"We are better than maybe people think we are."
First Published November 17, 2010 12:00 am
