Lions gear up for Friday night lights versus Wildcats
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Following are the highlights of Penn State's Tuesday press conference with coach Matt Campbell, offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser, quarterback Rocco Becht, offensive lineman Trevor Buhr, and defensive lineman Keanu Williams:
Friday's game: at Northwestern (8 p.m., Fox)
Records: Penn State (3-1 overall, 0-1 in the Big Ten), Northwestern (2-1 overall, 0-1 in the Big Ten.
Odds: Penn State is a 2.5-point favorite.
Rankings: Both teams are unranked by the Associated Press.
Series: Penn State leads, 16-6
SUBHD: Game decisions
There was a lot of Sunday morning quarterback talk amongst Penn State fans after Saturday evening's loss against Wisconsin. That also extended into Campbell and Mouser over the next 48 hours.
At the start of the fourth quarter with the Lions leading 20-10 and facing a fourth-and-1 from their own 38, Campbell originally sent the offense out. He called a timeout, and instead sent out the punt team.
Campbell said it's a decision that he's gone through in his head 'a million times' since Saturday.
"We were playing such good defense, and it was the reality of do we want to screw around there? We're in a good pooch punt situation where I thought we could back them up," Campbell said.
"I really didn't want to screw it up. I think you can debate the heck out of it...but I thought we weren't going to screw around here."
There were also three situations where Penn State had third-and-12 or 13 yards to go and the offense ran the ball against the Badgers.
"As cowardly that it feels from my standpoint to do that, and I'm telling you that is the case, it's the flow of the game," Mouser said.
"I always want to throw it and get the first down, but I understand defense was playing pretty good up to that point. We didn't have a ton of rhythm going in the pass game at that point either. We took the lesser of two evils and played the field position game, as dumb as that sounds and as much as I hate to say that."
SUBHD: Players meeting
There was a players meeting on Monday that was mainly led by Becht.
There were obviously plenty that went wrong for the Nits on Saturday, but Becht said much of the purpose was about still having plenty to play for through the next eight games.
"It was not to our standard," Williams said. "We really just needed to talk about our standard and where we're at and what we need to do moving forward."
Penn State may have lost the first conference game, but running the table would still likely mean a spot in the College Football Playoff and possibly a spot in the Big Ten championship.
"That meeting kind of showed everyone we're still in this, and we believe in one another and we trust one another," Becht said. "Last Saturday wasn't our best and that's not us. I definitely expect a different team Friday."
SUBHD: Four running backs
The backfield quartet of Carson Hansen, James Peoples, Quinton Martin Jr. and Cam Wallace have all had flashes of brilliance in the early-going. Martin didn't play at all in the Temple game, but rushed for 100 yards the next week against Buffalo.
Peoples had the best day of anyone against Wisconsin with 67 yards on 14 carries, but none of them have separated themselves from the pack yet.
"Everything after games like that is always being evaluated," Mouser said. "Are you playing the right people? Are you putting the right people in spots to be successful? You hope to have found a rhythm with one of the guys like a bell cow, and we haven't yet."
Going forward, it seems that the team is looking for the featured No. 1 guy, rather than all four rotating.
"I think we’re trying to find somebody to grab a stranglehold of this and kind of be the front-runner," Campbell said.
SUBHD: Final touchdown
The question of offensive pass interference on the final touchdown of Saturday's game has been on the minds of plenty of fans.
Badger tight end Jacob Harris bowled over PSU safety Marcus Neal Jr., and he admitted 'it was a little more than a nudge' after scoring after the game.
"I have a place to go and he was in the way of that play," Harris said Saturday. "I had to get him up out of there."
When asked about the play on Tuesday, Campbell didn't address if it was PI or not, but he said the defense left it to chance instead of taking care of situations where the game could have been put away.
"I think some of those things are bang-bang things, but you let it get to a bang-bang thing instead of taking care of the things that you could control to take care of," Campbell said.
SUBHD: Coping with defeat
Everyone has different ways of dealing with a loss like the Nittany Lions had Saturday.
As for Mouser, he said he likes to go home and watch Seinfeld before jumping into the game film so he can have a fresh mindset.
"It's certainly an emotional, gut-wrenching loss," Mouser said. "I have little kids. You just hug them and love them and try to make yourself feel better, after you get done swearing at yourself in the mirror for a long time."
No matter how a player or coach deals with it, it's also important to turn the page, especially when you have a short week with a Friday night game. Mouser said the Lions have no time to dwell on the loss this week.
"This Northwestern team is going to try to murder us, and anybody that shows up to practice feeling sorry for yourself is going to get left behind," Mouser said.
(Compiled by Andy Stine of the Altoona Mirror.)