Post-Game Quotes: Penn State
11/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Final Stats | Notes | USATSI Gallery 
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio:
Opening statement...
"I thought that was a tremendous job by our football team today. The benchmark has become 10 wins at Michigan State; (we've done that) four out of the last five years, so a tremendous accomplishment by them. With one more win in a bowl game they'll tie the record for the most wins as a senior group so that will be outstanding if they can do that.
"You look at this football game and nothing was easy, I think Penn State played extremely hard and it is a great environment here. We got up 13-3 and we came into the game saying that we needed to play special on special teams and win special teams and right off the bat, R.J. Shelton had a big kick-off return for a touchdown. We haven't had that for a number of years, I guess since 2009 against Minnesota so a huge play in the game and (Michael) Geiger makes his first two field goals. The third one was tipped a little bit but I thought he was very, very good and we had outstanding punting by (Mike) Sadler as well.
"I think it starts with that, and you look at our defense and we were relentless with numerous sudden change situations where they (Penn State) gets the ball at the plus 50. Also a big play by Trae Waynes before the half when they had a chance to get something out of it, he makes a huge pick in the endzone and it stays 13-3. A sack by Marcus Rush causes the fumble and we just continued to play very well; didn't give up much running yardage and played extremely well on passes as well. They (Penn State) took a lot of shots deep and we defended the deep ball.
"Then when you look at the offensive aspect, we were opportunistic as we hit a big third down play to (Keith) Mumphery which was one of the big keys of the game offensively on third down when I think it's still 13-3 and we go in for a touchdown. A big throw to Macgarrett Kings puts us down there, we get it in and then we come off the turnover and take advantage of that opportunity and we get it in the endzone to (Tony) Lippett on the throw so all of sudden its 27-3. Congratulations to Jeremy Langford again, I guess this is his 15th game now I think over 100 yards against Big Ten opponents. This football team is 15-1 the last two years, we've lost one game in the Big Ten and we've won a lot of football games here. In two regular seasons, 23-3 is pretty good, so outstanding job by our football team, very, very proud of them. We came here thinking we've got to get 10 and that's what we got so there's a lot of people involved in that."
Q: Do you think after today you will be chosen for one of those top-tier bowl games?
A: "I don't think there is any question that we will be chosen. With Georgia losing and UCLA losing, I think that we are up there. We are up there in the Top 10 for sure and that should get us to one of those bowls which was our goal after we had to bounce back and I think that will happen."
Q: You're program is known for great defense but your team is in a category with Baylor and Oregon now with 14 straight games with 24 points or more, can you just talk about the progress you have made on that side of the ball?
A: "We have made great progress and I think that it is coaching, it's players, it's confidence, it's execution. There are a lot of different reasons for it; it's technique but I think more than anything it's just the collective effort by everybody to move forward. We have been able to do that and over the course of the last two years, you think about where our offense has changed and moved since the beginning of last year we have just continued to grow. I would say that there were times during the football game that we were not playing our best, too many errant passes and things to that nature but when Connor (Cook) needed a play, he made the play and that's why he's the starting quarterback. He made some great plays out there and I thought the run he had was a physical type of run as well when he had to put his head down on the scramble the one time."
Q: After some struggles in the second quarter, he (Connor Cook) made some adjustments. Were there any particular areas of emphasis that you talked about at halftime which enable him to do that?
A: "I think that's coaching but that's also a player basically grounding himself, taking everything in and saying, `okay let's get back out there.' He's got enough experience and he knows what to do plus, hey, Penn State has a great defense and a good football team. I said to Coach (James) Franklin before the game that their team parallels pretty closely to our football team in 2012 when we had a lot of close wins and close losses. I think this game was a lot closer than it would indicate."
Q: Could you talk about Trae Waynes play? He defended a number of deep balls but none of them were more important than the one at the end of the first half.
A: "Trae is a good football player. They (Penn State) were testing him deep with double patterns and stutters. I think they went up on top on him a limited number of times. I thought Tony (Lippett) played very well out there as well but a big play at the end of that first half as I said and then I thought he tackled very well. He is a physical corner and kept playing."
Q: Tony (Lippett) was on his game, you mentioned that, broke up a couple passes from receivers, what did you see from him today that impressed you?
A: "Tony played very, very well on both sides of the ball. He was big on catching the ball and probably had about five catches and certainly played very well on defense."
Q: In the first half when you were backed up against your endzone you brought Damion (Terry) in, was that scripted to put him in at that type of moment in the game?
A: "That was scripted. We wanted Damion to play, we wanted our guys from Pennsylvania to have that opportunity to play here and he's a great quarterback. As we put him in on the 3-yard line I thought, `tough situation for him', and I asked everybody, `are you all right? Are we going to do this?' And they said, `Yeah let's do it', so it just gives you an indication that we have confidence in all three of our quarterbacks but I thought it was important that he play in this environment. That was for him and I just wanted to give him that opportunity."
Q: Could you talk about the game that Marcus (Rush) had? When he got the sack on (Christian) Hackenberg that kind of changed things.
A: "Marcus was banged up a little bit throughout the week and he didn't practice too much so we played L.T., Lawrence Thomas at defensive end a lot and in this game as well. Malik McDowell was in there, I think Damon Knox made it in there some too but he had a solid week of practice and Marcus is a great football player, 52 or whatever it is straight games starting and he played very, very well. I thought he got pressure more than just that one time. He got around the ball a lot and we put pressure on the quarterback."
Q: You have coached a lot of great players but with Marcus (Rush) he does nothing to draw attention to himself other than his play... to have a guy that really is a model of how you are as a coach, does that make it even a little bit more special?
A: "It does, because of everything we do here. If someone says, `you are a grinder', that's a compliment. That means that you are just constantly coming and coming and you are never stepping back and you just constantly continue to move forward and that's what he does. He is a grinder on the football field, he has a high motor. Are there bigger guys? Are there taller guys? Yeah, but there are people who play with passion and we have a lot of guys who play with passion and he is one of those guys."
Q: You said that last year just making it to the Rose Bowl wasn't enough and I know you guys came in here wearing hats that said 10 wins for the program. With things being what they are and you guys not having beaten a ranked team, how important is it going to be to tie for the winningest class with that bowl win?
A: "Those hats mean a lot more now than they did when we walked into this building today. That's a key to it and I think maybe you're right with the indication that we haven't beaten a ranked team but we play who's there and this is a very competitive league, there are a lot of very good football teams here. You know those things, winning and losing, they hang on a thread, it really does. If you look at this game, it's 34-10 but everybody in this room knows it could have swung the other way, that's how close it is. It's a tip here, a pass here, a sack here and that changes the flow of a football game, so I am very proud of our football team, we have come to play every game. There is not one game where we haven't come out ready to play and there is not one game on our schedule that we haven't had a chance to win and we've won 10 of them. We could have won the other two as well but we just didn't get it done."
Q: If you had your choice of one of those top bowl games, do you have one place you want to go more than the others?
A: "No, just some place where we don't have to wear gloves."
Penn State head coach James Franklin
Opening statement...
"Like always, I want to thank everyone for coming. Obviously, it didn't turn out the way we wanted it to turn out. We'll start off by giving Michigan State credit. That's a very good football program. They've done a nice job. Got to give them credit. I think the game really just comes down to we had an opportunity to make some plays. We weren't able to do that and had some critical mistakes. We knew going into the game that they were going to overload the box and force us to make plays on the perimeter in one-on-one's and we weren't able to do that today. I thought our defense, especially once the game got going after the first couple of series, played really well. The kickoff return to start the game made things real challenging; especially that type of team and type of offense. Sam [Ficken] for whatever reason hit the middle of the ball, squibbed it down there and we got no hang-time and were not in a position to cover. That's kind of where we're at. We'll have a team meeting on Sunday. We'll come in and discuss some things about what our plans are moving forward. We won't practice tomorrow, but we'll start our bowl preparation and get to work on those things. Those 15 practices will be really valuable. We have not had those 15 the last two years. Those practices will be valuable in terms of getting ready for our bowl opponent, but also building for our future and development. Obviously, we'll be on the road recruiting as well, because that's the other thing that's going to help us moving forward in a large way."
Q: Those three possessions that you had starting in their territory, you only came up with three points. How much of a shift was that to only get three points with that type of field position?
A: "Obviously when you get field position, you have to take advantage of that. There's no doubt about it. We weren't able to do that consistently. We tried to stick with the running game all day long and not abort it like we've done in the past and we weren't able to consistently do that. I thought, for the most part, most of the game we protected fairly well, but the times that we didn't were problems with sack-fumbles and things like that. There's no doubt about it, you have to take advantage of field position."
Q: In the second quarter, when you got field position off of Anthony Zettel's interception, Christian [Hackenberg] throws a nice pass to the end zone and it goes off [Chris] Godwin's hands. How did you see that play? How disappointing was that?
A: "I thought he made a nice throw. I thought Godwin made a nice adjustment on the ball and had a chance to make a big play, a momentum swinging play. It did not work out that way. It went off his hands and ended up getting intercepted. There's no doubt that would've been a big play and would've got some real momentum for us. It didn't happen. I think it was a good ball. I thought Godwin made a nice adjustment on the ball. I think he's played pretty well as a true freshman. We need to get more separation. If you look at the passing game, the one-on-one's on the outside; we have to be able to get some more separation, either by running by people or with our route running."
Q: These seniors weren't able to have that next game after this. How much hunger do you sense there is among these seniors to go out with a win after this game?
A: "Right now, they're not thinking about that. It's the disappointment of today, but I think it does help in that locker room a little bit, the fact that it's not completely over. We do still have another game to play, another game to prepare and more opportunities to be together as a family. We have a lot of work to do, obviously, so I'm looking forward to that time. It won't just be working with the traveling squad; it will be working with everyone, the guys that have been redshirting. So I'm looking forward to that as well."
Q: In the big picture, how do you address the offense through this bowl preparation? Do you need some tweaks to it? Is it a personnel or scheme thing? How do you evaluate the whole offense?
A: I'll go back and evaluate everything at the end of the season; offense, special teams, defense, personnel, players, everything. Every aspect of the program, we'll look at from top to bottom. On the same hand, I've been with these guys for four years and I know what we're capable of. I know what the schemes do on offense, defense and special teams.
Q: Where do you think Christian's [Hackenberg] head is at right now, at the end of the season?
A: He's frustrated. He's a competitor. He wants to go out and win every single week and use his part of the team that he's responsible for, the offense, to have a big factor in that. I don't think there's any doubt he's frustrated moving forward in what he wants to do. He's frustrated, but meetings and practices, things like that, he's handled those things the right way but we have a lot of work to do.
Q: Do you think Christian has hope for next year that things will get better?
A: I think our whole team has hope for the future.
Q: Can you put into words exactly what you can accomplish during bowl practices?
A: The practices are not just designed about going against your opponent. We'll do good-on-good against each other, we'll work a lot of the guys in that were on scout team. We'll do some scrimmage situations with those young guys as well, a lot of things from a fundamental standpoint. Obviously, having the indoor center is very helpful, but we'll take the time to look at all those things.
Q: What is it going to take to narrow the gap against a team like Michigan State?
A: We've been on sanctions for three years. That team is Michigan State, a team that has been recruiting and building their program for a long time and done a nice job with it. It's one of the better programs. They have more scholarships than we do. We're going to have an opportunity to get that back and work with those things. That's what we're going to do. We're going to close the gap by developing the players that we have. We have great players and good kids here. We're going to recruit for the future. It is what it is. There's nobody more passionate about getting those things fixed as quickly as we possibly can, but there's a difference right now.
Q: Penn State's depth at linebacker was really tested today. What went into the decision to start Gary Wooten in the middle and move Mike [Hull] to the outside?
A: We didn't have [Jason] Cabinda this week so it was next man up. That was the situation we were in. We talk about numbers and scholarships and things like that. Every time we have an injury, it causes problems for us. Having to move Gary Wooten to middle linebacker and Mike Hull to the outside, we felt like that was the best opportunity for us with not having Brandon Bell or Cabinda.
Michigan State junior quarterback Connor Cook
Q: What from this game do you hope to see in the bowls coming up?
A: This game was in a big game atmosphere and we were able to capitalize on that. We're hoping for a top six bowl, but whatever we get we will be happy with it. Making a big time bowl shows well for us as a program.
Q: What did you guys talk about at halftime because they were shutting you guys down fairly well?
A: Coach just told us we can't hurt ourselves. We can't hurt ourselves with penalties and turning a first down situation into a third and long situation. We can't shoot ourselves in the foot because we are only hurting ourselves. Penn State has a great defense and they shut down our passing and run game, so we couldn't keep hurting ourselves with unforced errors. I think we secured that in the second half and capitalized on defense.
Michigan State senior running back Jeremy Langford
Q: Can you talk about how well Marcus Rush played not only today, but all season?
A: He's a hard worker like our whole team. We go out there and work for what we want. We don't worry about things on the outside. We worry about what's going on in our locker room.
Q: Did you know you were close to extending that 100-yard streak?
A: Yes, someone on the sideline came over and told me. I wasn't really worried about that at the time, but they gave it to me.
Q: This season you had nine straight games with over 100 yards, what does that mean for you as a running back?
A: It means a lot for our team. Our offensive line, our tight ends, and our fullbacks work hard. It means a lot now that the regular season is over and I feel blessed to be in this situation.
Michigan State senior defensive end Marcus Rush
Q: How does it feel to win 10 games this season?
A: It just shows the kind of coaches we have in this program and the players they are bringing in. We knew as a senior class that we had a good class of boys and we knew we had a good team this year. The way we've been playing the past four years we have always known that the sky is the limit. Getting to 10 wins is huge for this program and this just puts us up in the elite area. It shows that Michigan State is a great team and that's what the 10 wins really mean to us.
Q: Talk about the sack you got on [Christian] Hackenberg.
A: The tight end tried blocking me and I did a pretty good move on him. Our secondary is playing well and thankfully got the second read off, so I was able to get my arm around him and knock the ball out.
Q: When you were in high school and had just committed to Michigan State you said you wanted the program to be better than when you found it. How does it feel to have accomplished that today?
A: We've worked so hard since freshman year until now and it just goes to show the great players Coach Dantonio has recruited. It shows the kind of athletes these guys are in the senior class.
