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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 13, 2015

Jason Cabinda

University Park, Pennsylvania

Q. I think the team that's controlled the run, that's won the run game, has won like 20 of 22 in this series. Talk about the need for you guys to stuff the run.
JASON CABINDA: It's always huge. I mean, that's one of our main goals as a defense every week, really, is to stop the run. It's always our number one goal because when the team is able to establish the run, I think that that allows them to be able to take more shots down the field, and with a team like Ohio State who has the speed that they have at the receiver position, something that they do well. They're able to throw the ball over a lot of guys' heads. We haven't really seen a team this year who's really tried to throw the ball over our heads, so it's going to be a unique challenge this week, so stopping the run, and Ezekiel Elliott, Curtis Samuel, a lot of those receivers that come inside and running back, it's going to be huge this week.

Q. Braxton Miller is a guy that you can look like you have him wrapped up and then he's 15 yards behind you. What is sort of -- you haven't had to do it yet this year, but what do you do to prepare for a guy that you might think that you have and suddenly he's somewhere else?
JASON CABINDA: Yeah, Braxton is a guy who's slippery. He's very dynamic. We saw what he was able to do just a couple years ago, kind of tearing it up. Definitely a guy you've got to kind of just track to hit. He's slippery. He's a guy who pursuit is going to help, getting five, six, seven, all 11 guys to the ball. When he has the ball it's going to be huge, make him make drastic cuts and all that kind of stuff. But it's going to take a lot of effort, as it always does, and pursuit from the rest of the guys to kind of contain a guy like that.

Q. Ohio State right now is the No. 1 team in the nation. How much do you get relish that, and what kind of statement you'll maybe be able to make this weekend?
JASON CABINDA: It's awesome. It's a unique challenge. That's why we came here, to be in big games against the No. 1 team in the nation. I think it's a unique challenge. It's something we're very excited about. It's going to be a great environment over there, and it's something we're going to be able to overcome and be 1-0 this week, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to prepare this week as hard as we can so we can be 1-0 at the end of the week. So very excited.

Q. After the game Saturday, James said he wanted three hours of sanity before he started talking about Ohio State. When did you guys as a team, coaches, start really putting the focus on the Buckeyes this week? Was it Saturday night?
JASON CABINDA: No, I would say it was probably Sunday towards the end of practice there. Sundays we come in and we watch our film, kind of make our corrections, all that kind of stuff, and then we really put that aside, put the win aside and kind of focus on the next team. That's kind of what we did with Indiana-Ohio State, we kind of made our corrections, watched film, kind of turned our focus to Ohio State, and Indiana became kind of the past.

Q. Have teammates told you anything about playing in the Horseshoe? Have you talked to them about it or what the atmosphere is like?
JASON CABINDA: Yeah, I hear the atmosphere is awesome. I personally have never been there, but yeah, I hear the environment there is really cool.

I think playing in Beaver Stadium five weeks in a row really prepares us for that because our environment is awesome, as well. It's going to be a great challenge. I think playing in Beaver Stadium all these weeks has made our communication what it needs to be for those kind of environments, so I think we'll be ready in that aspect.

Q. Getting Brandon Bell back last week, how much did that help, and how important is he against these types of athletes that you'll be playing this week?
JASON CABINDA: Yeah, I mean, Brandon Bell is a guy who really elevates his game, especially in big games like this. He makes a ton of plays. He's a guy who's a high-energy guy. I think the energy he brings to the defense is very crucial. He's a guy who's very comfortable and relaxed. I think that kind of is attributed to kind of his experience on the field. He's very relaxed. He's been in that big game a lot of times. So I think he's never scared of the big stage, so I think that helps with the confidence of the guys around him, especially the younger guys who really haven't been in these big games just yet.

So it's very crucial getting a guy like Brandon Bell back.

Q. James talked about some similarities between preparing for Indiana and preparing for Ohio State in terms of their quarterbacks and their offense. What does that mean to you guys and how can that help you guys moving forward?
JASON CABINDA: Yeah, I think they're similar in the sense of their tempo. I think both offenses are pretty fast offenses. I think they run a lot of plays. I think at the quarterback position both teams had runners. Cardale is a runner, J.T. Barrett is a runner. J.T. is kind of beginning to establish himself as a red zone threat there. I think they definitely have a lot of similarities, and that can definitely transfer over to this week and our preparation, as well, and kind of help us out there.

Q. I think Ohio State was your third game last year if I remember right. What do you remember from that?
JASON CABINDA: Yeah, yeah. October, yeah, it was an awesome game. It was a white-out, 7:00, primetime, national television, just like what we're going to have this week.

I mean, it was an awesome game. It was really exciting. We had a lot of people here, sold out and all that kind of stuff. Exciting. It was really exciting. We had a lot of fun that game, didn't come out on the right side of the ball like we had wanted, but I think it's going to be that kind of game again. It's going to be a fight. It's going to be a battle of the fronts and it's going to be a physical game. I think we're ready and we're really excited about it.

Q. James mentioned this is a great year for the Big Ten. Are you a Big Ten football fan? Do you watch other games? Have you seen some of the -- Michigan last week or some Ohio State games, just watching them on TV, not the films?
JASON CABINDA: Yeah, I mean, a lot of the Big Ten teams this year are faring pretty well so far. To be honest, I just like watching good football. I love watching good defensive football, kind of seeing what other teams are doing, as well. I'll sometimes rally that over to Coach Shoop and talk to him about it. The Big Ten teams are doing pretty well this year. We have maybe four teams that are in the top 25 right now, so yeah, definitely I think they're doing a good job, and a lot of those teams are teams we're going to be facing down the road, as well, so we're excited for all that.

Q. Going off what you just said about watching good defensive football, maybe talking to Coach Shoop about it a little bit, if you couldn't pick yourselves, which team in the nation do you think is playing the best defense?
JASON CABINDA: Wow, good question there. I mean, Michigan is playing pretty good defense right now. I think they have a lot of good athletes on that side of the ball. But I wouldn't pick any of the guys. Our guys are -- I would die for the guys that play to my left and to my right, and I think everyone on the defense would say the same.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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