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PENN STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 21, 2008

Joe Paterno

THE MODERATOR: Welcome our weekly teleconference with Coach Paterno.

Q. Can you compare Ohio State's offense with Illinois's? How are they similar and how are they different?
COACH PATERNO: Yeah, I haven't really done that, to be frank with you. I always just try to look at people we play and don't look back and say, well, so and so did this.
There's differences obviously. I think that even the quarterbacks have different running styles. Pryor is so smooth. The other kid is a big, strong kid that goes up the gut a lot. Pryor is on the edge so much, and when he gets on the edge he's so dangerous. And I think of course there's similar tailbacks.
But it would be tough for me to tell you that I saw a lot of differences, and it would be tough from me to tell you they're very similar. I think they did things in different situations that are better.
Again, Ohio State, you got remember now, the offense I saw against Michigan State is not the one that I looked at earlier. They're just starting to emerge into what they want to do best, so it's hard for me to answer that question and feel comfortable that I know what I'm talking about.

Q. Could you evaluate the progress that freshman linebacker Michael Mauti has made since the beginning of the season? Would you like to expand his role some more?
COACH PATERNO: Well, the second part, depends on obviously a lot of things. I think he's getting better all the time. He was a kid that had some tough luck the last year in high school. He was a very highly -- he had a great reputation in high school, and then he broke his ankle.
His dad was a heck of a guy here, his older brother is a walk-on, and he's smart, tough. I think each week he'll get better. So I think he's made good progress. He's made good progress. Still got a ways to go. Remember, he's a true freshman.

Q. I know Terrelle Pryor is one of most valued quarterbacks to come out of Western Pennsylvania. I know you actually visited with him late in the process and he ended up going it Ohio State. Can you talk a little bit about you've seen on him and what kind of player do you think he can be?
COACH PATERNO: I think he is a heck of a player right now. I think he's got everything to be a great player. He's a good kid. Got a lot poise and he handles pressure not only on the field, but off the field. He knows what's going on, and each week he's getting better.
I'm assuming that's what's happening out there. I didn't see him earlier in the year much. He's a heck of an athlete and a heck of a football player, and I think he will be one of the really good quarterbacks we've had come out of this state.

Q. Was the success Michigan had early offensively maybe a good thing for your team to experience before you play Ohio State, just kind of get you up to speed with what you might see from Ohio State?
COACH PATERNO: You know, that's so hypothetical. I don't know really. I think what happened to us early, we thought were -- we thought we were going to have a pretty good offensive football team. Clark and Devlin, the two quarterbacks, started to show that they could do certain things. We looked around and had some wideouts. I felt that our running backs had a good shot at it. We had our offensive line coming back.
So I felt we were going to be a pretty good offensive football team. How good? That's the tough part to do. I think that whether having success early helped us, sure it helped us. How much did to help us? I don't know. I think we've made progress.
I was pleased with the way we played the second half against Michigan. We had our problems and were a little sloppy early, and they went in there and made up their minds and tightened up things and did the things they had to do to be a good football team.
Now, did they learn a lot from earlier in the year? Things were easier for them earlier in the year, except maybe Perdue. But I think that they learned and got better and more got more confidence, and I think they're continuing to get on that road.

Q. Tony Davis doesn't necessarily get a lot of attention. Can you talk about how far he's come and handled the move from back to cornerback this year?
COACH PATERNO: Well, he's been a good football player for a couple years. Tony has played a lot of football around here. I think he's getting a little bit more aggressive than he was earlier in his career. He's been a very quiet kid. Not one of those kinds guys that's pounding his chest or anything like that.
He goes to practice every day and works hard and tries to get better. I think now he's starting to feel really good about himself, and I think he's a heck of a player. He's a really good football player. He's an excellent corner.
You and got to remember, he was a corner and then he was a safety and now back to corner. You know, that may have held him back a little bit as far as being outstanding at corner, because we really needed him at safety last year.
So he's a good player. I guess that's the best way to put.

Q. When you're trying to scout opposing runningbacks, quarterbacks, how much do you ask of your scout team to replicate what somebody else can do, and who do you have trying to do that this week with Pryor and Wells?
COACH PATERNO: If we had somebody that can replicate Pryor and Wells, we'll be in pretty good shape. No, I don't -- Sunday is when we meet. We go down over the -- who's going to be on the scout team and say, Who can do most of the things that this guy can do?
You know, you can't get anybody that's going to be as good as the guys you're playing against, because No. 1, they don't practice it all year; and No. 2, they kind of athletes we're playing against, particularly this week, it would be awfully tough to find somebody that can mimic them exactly.
So you're getting somebody that can get a job done and can do some things who's competitor. Pryor's a heck of a competitor. He doesn't look it because he's so smooth and he played so carefully. The other kid is just now coming out of that injury, and he's back to where he was a year ago.
So it's hard to duplicate it. You look around your squad and you say, Hey, this guy has a chance and this guy has the best chance to give us the look we need. He has the best chance to, as I said, mimic the guy we need. Who's going to play No. 2 and who's going to play the tailback and that kind of stuff, and then you finally make a decision.
Then you try to get the kid to look at tapes and understand that these are the things he's got to do in the different situations, so that he's really making your football team aware of what can happen and aware of what they have to be able to do when certain things do happen.
So it's not easy. Sometimes you have a guy that matches up, other times you don't. Pretty tough to match up with those two kids.

Q. Is there maybe a couple qualities that your team has this year that's made them maybe a little more successful on the road than a few of your other teams in the past have been?
COACH PATERNO: I think that's the bad rap on the teams of the past. A lot of things have happened on the road. We've played some awfully good football games and had some bad luck officiating calls and a couple other things on the road. So I wouldn't put that rap the teams that played here. I think we've been pretty good on the road.

Q. I know you said there's no point in looking at the BCS standings right now, but as someone who's long been in favor of a playoff, what do you make of the BCS system overall?
COACH PATERNO: Let's not get into that. You know where I stand on it. I'm for a playoff. That's not going to happen. What we have we have. We've got to try to do the best we can, if we're good enough to get the kind of recognition you'd like your team to get.
But I don't -- I think that's -- you know, we're playing Ohio State this week. We're not playing the BCS.

Q. How pleased are you with how consistent Kevin Kelly has been, not just with his improved distance with his field goals, but also on his kickoffs?
COACH PATERNO: Well, I think our kicking game has been good, and I think obviously Kevin has been a big part of that. He's a fine kicker, and I think he's feeling really good about himself. You know, it'll probably come -- you know, it'll going probably come down this coming Saturday to something with the kicking game. It will have a lot to do with the outcome of the game. He's a fine kicker and he's a great kid.

Q. Last year in the Tuesday press conference after the Ohio State game, I asked you if there was anything you saw in that game that would lead you to question what you're doing or question where you are as a team. You said, Ohio State may be one step ahead of us because of their organization and the fact that they had a couple people that could dominate the game inside. I've never been a guy for size. I've always been a guy for speed. Maybe we've got to reevaluate that. Do you still feel that way? Do you think their sheer size and strength could be a factor on Saturday? What's changed?
COACH PATERNO: Well, some experience. I think the three wideouts obviously are a year older and they're better. I think that the quarterback has added a dimension to us that we didn't have last year. Those kinds of things.
But Ohio State when I said that, I thought they were a better football team than where were last year. I thought that was the only team that we played last year which was better than we were. I thought we should've beaten a couple other people if we had played a little better or coached a little better from my end of it.
And I don't see any difference this year. They've done an awfully good job recruiting Jim Tressel, and he really did a good job of getting some good kids, and then they came into our state and took one of the better kids away. I think they've done a good job and got a good staff.
In that sense, the organization. But as I've said for four or five years, we were only one or two players away. I think we're close. How close or where we are, we'll find out.

Q. Obviously a unique situation with a senior quarterback last year who played great. Are you prepared for the possibility that he may appear this week as well?
COACH PATERNO: You know, you got to be ready. There's no question we got to be ready for whatever happens. And I don't know. It's hard to think that as well as they played last week and as well as Terrelle played that they would be thinking about doing something else with the quarterback spot. It's hard for me to think they would.
But if he gets a bump or a bruise and something happens and the other kid comes in, he can certainly handle it. He was really good last year, so we got to be ready for the whole works.

Q. That the last time you won there was '78. They had a professional quarterback then and they have one now. Do you look back at that game much? Can you reflect on that?
COACH PATERNO: To be honest, I couldn't tell you the last time we were -- really, I don't know. '78, was that Schlichter's year? It's a different situation. Schlichter, that was the first game he ever played. Started as a true fresh. It was their first game.
Ohio State has some football games under their belt now, so it's not quite as inexperienced a quarterback as it was when Schlichter started.

Q. This year Mike Lucian has made a lot of sacrifices for the team moving around from position to position. Does that type of unselfish attitude rub off on the rest of the squad?
COACH PATERNO: Well, I hope it does. I think it does. Whether it rubs off on every single one of them, you're not quite sure that happens. But I do think there's an attitude on this football team that we can be a pretty good football team, but we all got get in there and pull together. Lucian has been a good kid. He's played hurt and had bumps and bruises and he was out a couple weeks of practice. He was playing tight end when we had the other two kids hurt.
So I think, yeah, if a kid does that and he does it with a certain attitude and a camaraderie, I think it does affect your squad.

Q. How confident are you you'll have Scirrotto available for Saturday?
COACH PATERNO: I don't know. We'll know tomorrow. That's probably a better question to ask one of the doctors. I've got my fingers crosses and hope he'll be okay. The indications are that he'll probably be okay.

Q. For yourself, just how you're feeling, and is it status quo in terms of you on the sideline?
COACH PATERNO: If we've got a choice of who is better health-wise, Scirrotto and Paterno, let's get Scirrotto out there.

Q. Still day to day, week to week...
COACH PATERNO: Yeah, this thing is one of those things. Next week when we get the open week I'll let some people look at it and then we'll make some decisions. Probably take a day or two off and let our doctors take a look at it, and we'll see where we go from there.

Q. When Terrelle was being recruited by pretty much everybody, a lot of people thought this team needed to land him to be a savior, change of pace, whatever. Things have worked out really well for both teams, both you and Ohio State. On your side, talk about what Daryll has meant to this team, the leadership, the poise, what he commands from on the other players?
COACH PATERNO: Well, I think it's obvious. I'll say what I've said several times. He's a strong leader and a very, very good athlete. Tough kid. He gets in the huddle and he has a nice way about things. Not a guy that gets in there and yells and shouts and tries to -- he takes the blame for a lot of things he doesn't have to, and he's really worked hard to develop a touch.
He's a good passer now. You know, for a while there I didn't know whether he would be. He's worked really hard, and he gives we were a quarterback that we can win with against whomever we may play. That doesn't mean he can do it by himself obviously. I keep going back to Morelli didn't have quite the support, and the offensive line is so much steadier and more cohesive, and those wideouts are playing really well.
We're in a little better shape and Royster has been a real -- if you had asked me last year if Royster would be this good, I would say he doesn't have quite the stuff. But he's turned out to be a heck of a good tailback.
I think a lot of things have come together, but Clark is the guy that's really the guy that's -- I think everybody just appreciates how hard he's worked and how good an athlete he is.

Q. Another question about Daryll. Sort of playing off of that, before he came to Penn State he had to take the year off and go to prep school to iron out the academic issues and he had to wait his turn, like you said. With the perspective you have now, seeing how he's come along, how pleased are you? You waited for him to come along and now that's sort of paying off.
COACH PATERNO: I can't take any credit for that. That's Jay Paterno. In fact, I tried to back off on it because I thought he was having trouble doing the work because he had trouble with the test. But there were a couple people in that high school that went to bat for him, and Jay said, He'll do it.
So I can't take any credit for that. But I think the first guy to take the credit is Daryll himself. There are other places he could have gone. I remember telling him, Look, don't come here unless you think -- unless you're going to go to work on the books. I said, You haven't done a good enough job academically.
Then after I got around him a little bit and then I talked to some people out there, it was a question of nobody really pushing him with the academic part of it.
So I think that's, yeah, it's a great story. I don't mean story in a sense of make believe. I just think it's great to see a kid do that and go to Kiski, which was not easy for him. In fact, he owed money when he got out of Kiski. He and his family figured out a way to get the money and the whole bit.
So I think all is well that ends well, but he had to make it happen himself. The guy that really encouraged him and spent the time with him on the phone was Jay.

Q. You won a couple national championships. You yourself have been through many, many big games. The players on this team, how good do you feel for the players on this team that they have this opportunity in front of them to really go out and make this special for them?
COACH PATERNO: I think it's great. I'm happy for them because they've worked hard. Yeah, I mean, again, you guys hear me so much. I always get concerned that I'm saying things that you've heard so many times. It's a squad that's worked hard, and now, here it is. Now they got a chance, a big game against a really good football team.
They got a chance for something I think all of is when we when we start to play whatever sport we're playing, when you get a chance to be right up there, you know, it's exciting, something that you should enjoy.
I just don't want them to get caught up in any of this bologna about you well, you gotta to do this and if you don't do this...
Just go out and have fun. Ought to be a great Saturday for college football for us and for Ohio State.

Q. Michigan had a lot of early success running the football. You made an adjustment to your linebackers. How much was that, I guess, to get a little more speed on the field there? And if Ohio State has that same early success, will you guys move back to that?
COACH PATERNO: Well, you know, depends on what kind of success they have and how they have it and why they have it. The linebackers last week against Michigan were not bad. They were playing all right. Bowman was doing well, and so was Sales. Sales probably had six, seven, eight tackles in that game.
Our problem was down in the -- the down lineman. Down lineman had problems because of the pace of the game. The pace was just -- they were on us were and we weren't quite ready for that. Once we got that thing settled down and got some people a little bit better and adjusted to the blocking schemes and stuff like that, then it made that a little bit easier for the linebackers because they didn't have people on top of them right away.
As a result, they looked a little better maybe than some of the guys that started. You know, it's great to be able to have that kind of depth that you can stick some kids in there and let them take a look at what's going on in there and get a chance to go back in and play a little better.
I'm glad we got them, but I don't think that was a big reason we started and stopped them. I think it was a combination of a lot of things.

Q. How is Stefen Wisniewski health? And also, could you update us on Devon Still? Is there a possibility Still might be able to play?
COACH PATERNO: Well, Stefen is fine. He practiced yesterday and he should be fine.
Still, you know, I keep saying, When? Another couple weeks maybe. He works awfully hard in the training room and so forth. I'm anxious to get hem out there, but he won't be ready for a couple more weeks I'm afraid. Wisniewski is okay.

Q. Would you alternate with Mike Lucian again this week like you did against Michigan?
COACH PATERNO: The reason we did that was because we wanted to to get Lucian some more work in there. Again, he was playing defense, playing guard, he's played center and playing some tight end. Dick wanted to get him in the ballgame a little bit just to get him settled down. Looked like we were doing all right.
Again, I wish I could answer some of these questions the way you want, a little bit more definitive, but we don't know. You go into a football game and you got to get X number of guys ready. How the hell is the game going? If Wisniewski is a having a super game and Ohrnberger is having a super game, Shipley, what do you want to do? You take Wisniewski out so Lucian can get some play? No, you don't do that. You're trying to win the football game.
It's hard for me to tell you whether he'll get in there and play or not, but he's good enough to play, though.

Q. Daryll Clark is an Ohio kid going home this weekend. He said was really excited for the game last week. Is there anything you might say to him to make sure he's calm and doesn't get too excited for this game?
COACH PATERNO: I tell him just what I told you folks: Enjoy it. Don't get uptight. You're not going to win the game by yourself. It should be a fun game for you. Have a good week at practice and let's be ready.
I hope he doesn't take this thing where it's -- you know, going back home to Ohio to prove anything to the world. He doesn't have to prove anything to anybody. Just go out and have fun. That's what I'm basically going to tell him.

Q. I'm just curious, who is playing Terrelle Pryor on the scout team?
COACH PATERNO: Why? Why are you curious? I'm curious as to why you're curious. (Laughter.) About four or five guys. Some on certain plays, some -- you know, without giving away what they're going to do.

Q. Do they have to audition?
COACH PATERNO: Audition?

Q. Yeah.
COACH PATERNO: Well, you know, after what, we've been practicing about 12 weeks. If you need to audition a kid to find out what he can do, we're not doing a very good job. We have a walk on kid, McGloin. I can never pronounce his name wrong.
And then the other Mauti will play some, and then there's another kid who will play. It'll vary depending on the kind of play they have. So whatever play they're going to show, they would have ability close enough or better than -- not better than the guy they're going to imitate, but would be better than if we put another guy in there.
If we're going to throw the ball 60 yards down the field, Pat Mauti isn't the guy to throw the ball 60 yards down the field. If we're gonna run the option, Pat Mauti is probably better in the option when we're practicing it so we get a little better pace and feel.
Because that's the thing that make it so tough. Pryor has an awfully strong arm and quick release. When he takes off and he takes off. He's a tough guy to get. It's going to be interesting.

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