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CAPITAL ONE BOWL: PENN STATE v LSU

January 1, 2010

Joe Paterno

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

Penn State Â– 19
LSU - 17

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll go ahead and get started with Penn State. We're being joined now with Daryll Clark. He was named game MVP for those on the field at the time of the announcement. And we'll start things off with an opening statement from Coach Paterno.
COACH PATERNO: Opening statement, I thought it was a heck of a football game. And I thought the LSU kids never gave in, and it was who had the ball last, I think. They did a great job on the goal line, and overcame some things.
So I was very proud of our kids. And it's a lot of fun in being in a good, tough football game like that.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Joe, do you miss mud? And for you guys, have you been in a game with that kind of mud?
COACH PATERNO: We've played in fields that were tough to handle because of snow and things like that. But this field, the grass was so high. It was tough. And I was just telling Sean, I was a little worried about some of the kids who have had some leg problems.
But I didn't see anybody get hurt. Did anybody get hurt? Both sides. So I don't want to gripe about it. But it was sure -- it was tough. It was tough.
SEAN LEE: I played on AstroTurf in high school, so I never played on a field like that. But I think once the game went on, you kind of forgot about it just played.

Q. Was it fun at all?
COACH PATERNO: It was a lot of fun. We couldn't use that as an excuse, because they had to play on it too. The last time I played in a game like this with these kind of conditions was I played with the Lower Eastside Broncos when I was a little kid and my dad was the coach.

Q. This is for Coach Paterno and Sean Lee. Les talked about the personal foul at the end of the ball game. Obviously you were on the field. He claimed an offensive lineman was simply trying to take Navorro and lift him off of Jordan Jefferson so they can get the ball played to go with the next play. What did you see? What do you remember from that? And, Coach, what was the explanation given to you?
COACH PATERNO: I didn't see the play. So it would be tough for me to comment or gripe about it, whichever way the call is done, because I didn't see it. I really didn't see it.
I'm watching the clock, and I'm trying to figure out how many plays they can get and trying to make sure we keep the -- when the quarterback got out of bounds, that bothered me. I felt that was a bad play.
So, anyway, and I was talking to a couple of coaches about, hey, let's get 81, he let him get outside. That kind of thing. So I didn't see the play.
SEAN LEE: I caught the tail end of it. All I saw was him falling on top of him. I didn't know if he was helping him up. It sure seemed like he was falling on top of him. I didn't see the beginning of it. I saw the end and he was on top of Navorro.

Q. Sean and Daryll, you guys finally beat a ranked team. Does this take the sting out of your two home losses this year?
DARYLL CLARK: I wouldn't say that, because no matter what happens, we still have those two losses. And I was just so excited to come out and play. There was no doubt in my mind that everybody was ready to play.
This bowl practice and this preparation was so good, both offensively and defensively, I was excited we were playing a good team in LSU. You have a lot of people talking on ESPN about the whole legacy thing, and the notable game, the signature win and whatnot.
We just kept throwing that away, because that's not what this is about. We were down here to win a big game for our Penn State program. And it wasn't decided until the end of the game. That's what it's all about.
We had the never-die attitude. We ran into a couple of pit stops this game. But we were able to get it done when we needed to?
SEAN LEE: I think it was big for us because it kind of builds momentum on next year. Like Daryll said, winning a bowl game is all about winning for the program. It's not about a specific player, coach; it's about the program. I think that was big for us and good for the young guys to see a game like that, big-time game, big-time drive at the end.

Q. This is for Daryll and Coach. Three times you got inside the 10 -- actually for the whole game and had to settle for field goals. Was that frustrating in the sense you didn't get the cushion that your dominance -- maybe that you thought you should have had and do you think maybe it got away from you because of that?
COACH PATERNO: Daryll is more frustrated than I was. When Daryll rolls out, he didn't want to -- he didn't want to run that play. He wanted to run another play. And somehow I said run his play, and there was some miscommunication. Ended up running the play that he didn't want to run. And they didn't make it (laughter). So he wasn't a very happy warrior on the sidelines.
DARYLL CLARK: The only thing about it that's frustrating, in a big game like this, when you're playing against somebody like LSU, you have to cash in. You have to score a touchdown when you have an opportunity. Because they have so much fire power on offense, you know, anything can happen.
Our defense played great today. They did a really good job. But when we're that close, I was definitely upset when I misfired on the slant, got behind it and the defender was able to get a handle on it and whatnot.
I was just glad we were able to come out with some kind of points instead of like a turnover on downs or a fumble or anything like that.
The main thing going into this football game, the coach was preaching about it all bowl practice, that it's going to come down to a turnover or two. I was just glad that we didn't turn the football over at all today.

Q. What play did you want to run, first of all?
DARYLL CLARK: It was a play action pass that we run in our goal line package. And I noticed every time we ran our 36 base or our powers, it came crashing down in the middle. It was tough to get over the hump.
And I figured if we would have run that play action pass, take the power, maybe Evan or Stephfon hop over the top, come crashing down when you have a guy leaking out of the flash toward the pylon.
We ran a couple times this year. Ran against Eastern Illinois, Syracuse, and they both worked, you know what I mean? But whatever the play's called, you have to do what you can and execute it, you know. We just weren't able to come up with a touchdown.

Q. For both you guys, when you take the field, Daryll, with six minutes to go, what's going on in your mind with that drive? And for you, Sean, as you're watching the offense move down the field for that drive, can you both comment about what was going on in your mind and what's going on in your mind as you're watching.
DARYLL CLARK: I told myself before this game we expect the unexpected. Obviously we weren't able to score touchdowns when we needed them but we were still ahead. And we came right down and scored. And I'm looking up at the scoreboard, I'm like they're up. We're not losing this football game no matter what.
And that's when I told the guys, you know, we were huddled up on the sidelines on our way in. I told them whatever it takes, we have to keep these chains rolling and we have to keep the ball moving.
And Coach, you know, he told us before we got out there: All we need is a couple of points. So let's get down there and get in some field goal range. If we can score a touchdown, we can score a touchdown. If not, we have a reliable kicker in Collin Wagner.
SEAN LEE: I was looking at the time. I knew Daryll was going to take them down the field score a touchdown or field goal. For us it was how much time are we going to be on the field and where we're going to have to stop them.
And also we were thinking about how many timeouts they had left, because that determines whether you keep guys in bounds and what type of offense they were going to run. For me, it was trying to understand how much time they had left.

Q. Daryll, there's a lot of talk about the touchdowns you didn't get, but you got the one early where you got -- there was play action and got the receiver behind Patrick Peterson, and that doesn't happen much. Talk about what happened there.
DARYLL CLARK: We noticed on film, the second we started watching LSU, that Peterson is one of their notable guys at corner. And he jumps a lot of routes.
He's a very aggressive corner. Now, if we had a regular out pattern call, he would have had to cover. And he drove on the out, just like we thought he was going to do.
And Derek Moye slipped out the backdoor. It was a designed double move. Right when I saw him drive out and Moye got the separation, I just wanted to put it out there not too far. I didn't want to underthrow it because he had good makeup speed as well. And I was fortunate to get the touchdown out of it. Not just a big play.

Q. Joe, this is the first time this team has won a close game against -- and against a ranked team. What does winning this game mean for this team and this group of seniors?
COACH PATERNO: We've only lost a couple of games. I think we lost two this year, and last year we lost something. I felt I didn't do a very good job for them in the second half in the two games we lost this year. I thought we could have done a much better job coaching, I personally in some play selection, substitutions and things like that.
So I tried to tell them that, you know, you guys -- you're all right, you're fine, don't worry about it. And didn't come out and power them. They came out, practiced hard. They worked hard.
I told them when we came out here, down here, I said: Hey, I want you to have a good time. I don't want anybody to be a jerk. We didn't have a curfew most of the time we were down here, last couple nights. I was a little nervous about their legs when they were getting a little tired and so I made them get in at 11:00. But they're just a great bunch of guys to work with.
And I'm glad that -- and then that thing about not beating a ranked team, I mean, between you and me, that's a lot of hooey, okay, to be honest with you. I think you guys have to write about something, so you pick out something.

Q. Coach, could you talk about the play right before the end of the half, I think it was third and goal from the 1. What went into that play there? I think it was a roll-out?
COACH PATERNO: That's what we just talked about. We ran --

Q. Third down before the game --
COACH PATERNO: Oh, we were only interested in trying to protect the angle at the end of the game. I thought you said the first two. At the end of the game we had -- we had confidence calling. Obviously we would have liked to have scored a touchdown but we weren't going to do something in there, maybe throw the ball over the middle or try to force it or do something like that or anything with a lot of fancy ball handling. We might put the ball on the ground.
So I think that part it was good. But the one drive we didn't score was the one where Daryll had the better play and got a little mix-up, and that was one right before that.

Q. Daryll, I understand that it was all about the team and the program, but how satisfying is it for you to end your career leading a winning touchdown drive in the final minutes?
DARYLL CLARK: I'm more overjoyed than satisfied or relieved that we were able to win this football game. Because like I said, I put this team before myself at any given time. And that's how it's been since I've been here.
And I made it clear to everyone that it's not about me. This football team did not come down here to win for Daryll, to submit to Daryll's legacy. That's not what this is about. We bonded together to get a big-time win for this program, springboard some confidence for the younger guys up to the next season.
And we accomplished all of that, you know? I can't stress enough how well prepared we were for this football game.

Q. Coach, Wagner kicked four field goals for you, people will see chip shots, but obviously on that field, nothing was really a given. And plus he hit one in the clutch. Can you just talk about his performance for you today?
COACH PATERNO: Well, obviously, as you said, the whole operation has kept to be almost perfect. Snapper, the kid who snaps ball, the holder putting it down on time, timing. Those kids from LSU came awfully tough on that last one. And there was just that much of a hesitation or we had to make that much of an adjustment, wouldn't have done it, if Wagner doesn't have confidence, doesn't just step through it, we might not get it.
But Wagner is a good kicker. He doesn't have the great -- he's not a 50-yard field goal kicker, although we've tried a couple with him, and it really just -- it fell short on him in the ball game. But he's consistent. He works hard. The kid who holds is a punter, Boone, does a heck of a job, and the guy who snaps the punt, snaps for the [indiscernible]. I'm not sure I'm answering your question very well.
But I'm just pleased because Collin, he's a good kid. He came as a walk-on.

Q. Daryll, you and Stephfon had problems with the exchange, but can you talk about the new threads, how difficult it was to handle the ball, to carry the ball, to throw the ball in these conditions?
DARYLL CLARK: It was tough throughout the entire game, because if it wasn't wet, it had some mud on it. If it didn't have mud on it, it was wet. And with the field conditions being so bad, sometimes the snap was a little bit short.
And me and Stephfon addressed that on the sideline and it looked to me like he was just a little, maybe a little anxious to get to his blocking assignment before getting a snap off. And that QB/center exchange is clutch. It's very important to play that than go with it.
And we took care of it going into the second half and we didn't find a snap after that.

Q. Was it difficult to throw?
DARYLL CLARK: It was difficult to throw. Some throws I would like to have back, because they got away from me. In this type of game, the conditions are wet, you want to put the ball on the receiver more than try and lead it too far.
That's what happened a couple of times. I had Alem on their sideline one time, went out in the third, just put me right in his chest. I led him, I led him a little too far. That's tough for any receiver when the conditions are like that, they aren't able to plan, cut as fast as they would like. That's why it seemed out of rhythm.

Q. Joe, can you talk about what Sean touched on, what it means to the underclassmen to be able to be a part of a game like this and how much will carry over to the next season?
COACH PATERNO: It will be a lot of carry-over. One of the things about ball games you can take some of your younger players and get a little extra practice time with them. And I thought that you guys see the kids who were playing, but as Daryll said -- and I think Sean would agree -- our scout teams did a great job.
A lot of kids knew they weren't even going to get in the game who were not there and helped these guys get ready. And I think they learned and they get better, and we try to organize practice so that we can take some of those younger kids -- so many kids were redshirting, and some of those whiteouts did a great job for you guys. Some of the whiteouts not playing. We were fortunate that we had some kids that were big, tall kids such as the LSU receivers.
And then we took -- was actually a linebacker, and he played quarterback some because he could run. And we were concerned about this kid running, the LSU quarterback running.
So you try to manipulate them. But I think a lot of those kids now know what could happen in a tough football game. They've been to a bowl site. They've seen guys like Sean and Daryll, and the way they handle themselves, and it's a very positive experience for them, and I think for the program.

Q. Coach, some of us are just making our way back into the room. If you would indulge us, please, and recap your general thoughts of the game, the field conditions, the strength of your opponent, and in particular --
COACH PATERNO: Oh, my Lord.

Q. As I said we just walked in, and the play, the personal foul?
COACH PATERNO: The field was in tough shape. The opponent was very, very tough (laughter). And we never gave in. They were very tough. What was the next part of that? (Laughter) what chapter was it.

Q. The personal foul at the end.
COACH PATERNO: I didn't see it. Honest to God, I did not see it.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Congratulations.

End of FastScripts

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