The University of Akron Athletics
Akron-Penn State Postgame Quotes
September 03 | Football
Akron Head Coach J.D.
Brookhart
Q: Opening Statement
A: Played a very good football team, talented football team. We
made way too many mistakes to have a chance to win today. I thought
we could do some things offensively, effectively but we shot
ourselves in the foot. Defensively, thought we played pretty hard
in the first half, but gave up some things because of youthful
mistakes and discipline issues. You can't do those kinds of things
on a consistent basis against a team like this and have an
opportunity to win. The kids played hard and kept believing. The
defense did some nice things in the second half in slowing them
down and making some plays. By no means happy, but looking forward
to getting better in week two.
Q: Were you expecting to see Penn State play so much 3-4
defensively?
A: We read all of the rumors about it but did not know what they
would do. I thought it could be a logical move considering all of
the good backers that they have. We certainly prepared for it, but
to not an exclusive degree.
Q: Compare this meeting to the 2004 game.
A: I felt we were a lot closer in terms of the speed of the game.
We are in our system and we know it better and we are able to
compete. I guess it is equally frustrating for different reasons.
The expectations of this football team; I thought we would play
better.
Q: What are your thoughts on Anthony Morelli?
A: You watched him. That kid can throw the ball from one half to
the other, 20 yards deep. You won't see a better arm this year. I
thought they have done some good things with him and obviously they
some talented guys to go to. He threw those out-routes and deep
balls and that is what he is. He is a play action, set it up and
take advantage of the kid that can hum it like he did.
Q: You had some success stopping the run. Can you talk
about that?
A: We are just getting better with our fits and gap control. I
think we have tightened that up a lot this fall. We have grown a
lot in that way and I think we will continue to get better.
Q: How did you feel only being down eight points in the
third quarter?
A: I felt like we should have been and felt fortunate because of
all of the mistakes that we had. I did not think we could make that
many and still be in the ballgame.
Q: What mistakes were you disappointed in?
A: A number of them, just that there were some youthful mistakes
like backing up to fair catch a kickoff on the 10 yard line and a
punt returner in his first year that looked at the coverage and
looked back up too late.
Q: Can you talk about Joe Tuzze's development?
A: Joe has done great. He is an extremely dependable kid. I will
take Joe Tuzze everyday.
Q: Penn State's defense lost several players last year.
Talk about this year's defense.
A: I like what they have done. They use those backers in a way that
I think that they should. Solid secondary, obviously you see the
speed and they will only get better in their scheme. I expect good
things from their defense.
Penn State Head Coach Joe
Paterno
Q: Can you talk about your general observations of the team
today and also the play of Anthony Morelli?
A: I thought we played a little sloppy. We obviously didn't run the
football very well which bothered me. I thought Morelli did a real
good job early and then he got a little bit careless in his reads.
But I think overall it was a good first game. He's played a little
bit but this first game he played a lot. I though he started out
well. We made some mistakes in the kicking game and the whole
bit.
Q: What happened on those two field goals (on the fumbled
snaps)?
A: The first one was a fake and he just fell down. The second one
he just fumbled the ball.
Q: Is Austin (Scott) still hurt and where is he at
(physically)?
A: Well we didn't run the ball much with Hunt and I wasn't going to
play Scott unless he was 100 percent. He hasn't practiced a lot so
it wouldn't have made much sense to put him in the game or anyone
else for that matter (that didn't practice a lot).
Q: Could you talk about the play of the offensive line
today?
A: I think they got their ears kicked in today.
Q: Could you talk about your defense and why the 3-4
today?
A: Actually it was a question of just getting Shaw in the game
against a team that throws it as much as they do. That kid (Getsy)
is a clever quarterback. He reads coverages well. He improvises a
couple of those passes where he was on the move and that's not easy
to do. We were thinking we were going to have to have an extra guy
in there and Shaw obviously is a guy who can play standup and he
did a pretty good job of rushing the passer, too. So, it was just a
question of the team we were playing against and trying to get the
best kids we have into the ballgame. But it basically was a
four-man line most of the day.
Q: Can you give us an update on Jim Shaw and his
status?
A: Well I haven't had a chance to see the trainer but I would be
surprised if we got him next week but we'll see. We took him out
and obviously he didn't come back in.
Q: The guys in secondary face a tough challenge next week.
How do you think they fared today?
A: I think they did pretty well. I think overall they did a pretty
good job against a club that knows how to throw the football and a
quarterback that we didn't get him to throw the ball to the wrong
guy until a couple of times late when they were in a hurry to get
something on the board. But early he was tough. So, I think we did
alright. I'll look at the tapes and I'm sure I won't be as happy
and I'll probably look at the tapes and see that the offensive line
did better than I think they did right now. It's an initial
reaction and I'm not sure but I think we did alright.
Q: One of your true freshmen, A.J. Wallace, fumbled the
second-half kickoff but he also had a big return. Were you please
with him and Bell and what they brought to the team
today?
A: Yeah, I think they are both going to be good football players.
Both can run and are very active kids and are very athletic.
Q: How did you feel about the receiving core, in particular
Norwood?
A: I think we have good receivers. I think Norwood had a good day.
But I think it will one of those things where one week one of them
has X number of catches and then pretty soon some other things will
open up and the other guy will get one. We have four, five, or six
receivers that are all pretty good receivers.
Q: You got the early lead. Do you feel that you played with
as much intensity after that or did it drop off?
A: I though we were sloppy. We could have put that thing away
early. We had the roughing the kicker penalty, two blown field goal
shots. I don't know if we lost our heads or just got a little
careless.
Q: Were you trying to block that punt (that resulted in the
roughing the kicker penalty)?
A: Sure, we had the block on. I'm not sure we should have but we
had a block on. Roughing him wasn't in the plan, though.
Q: Did they throw off your offensive line with their
different defensive scheme?
A: Yeah, in all fairness to the offensive line I have been saying
all week that I was worried about that because of the scheme that
Akron uses, they do a lot of very clever stunts. That's a pretty
good football team in Akron and they are really well-coached. That
guy (Brookhart) is a good coach and he and his staff are doing a
really good job. So, I think it was a combination of things. We
could have probably done a few things better. A couple of guys got
confused at times, particularly the younger guys, but I think
you've got to give Akron some credit.
Q: Were you pleased with how your defensive line
played?
A: I think they did pretty good. At times, we maybe weren't as
intense as we should have been, particularly near the end of the
game with the pass rush.
