Postgame Quotes: vs. No. 16 Penn State

Postgame Quotes
No. 16 Penn State at Indiana
November 5, 2022

Tom Allen | Head Coach
On your thought process when choosing a quarterback…
TA: Yeah, Connor is dinged up, so obviously he wasn't dressed. But felt like Jack is our next guy. Did some good things. Obviously got injured, so trying to figure out the final diagnosis for him.
But we have two young quarterbacks in Dexter and Brendan, so to me those guys are very, very similar. So didn't really have a plan to use a lot of those guys today. Obviously with Jack going down, that created that.

They're very equal. I think they both have a lot of talent. I think Dexter did some really good things. There's no doubt about it.

But both good quarterbacks and guys that I think will be a big part of our future. That's kind of where we're at, and we should get Connor back next week.

On the recurring struggles to make play compared to previous years…
TA: There's a couple of those catches where you're right there. We have to get the ball out, you know? And the guys are fitting where they're supposed to be. And got to finish tackles.

That's frustrating to me. Obviously, you know, this late in the season, we've been working on tackling like crazy, and the guys are getting put in spots to make plays. They have to make them.

Just frustrating. To me it's very, very frustrating to have guys in those spots and not be able to come up with a play that can change the game because it really does. In those early parts of the game it's a critical part where you've got to make those key third down stops and you've got to be able to get those, whether it's take-away or whatever it happens to be. Just really, really frustrating.

On using the bench as motivation during defense…
TA: Yeah, I think the thing for me with Devon, you know, that was the third one he has had that are on that edge of not using the best judgment. Obviously it's a close situation there. I think at first we thought he was being called for targeting, which obviously he wasn't.

But, you know, Tiawan to me they're going at it, he and No. 1. You can kind of have your own levels of evaluation of that. The guy is standing up for whatever, himself, and they can choose to call what they want to call on that.

I'm not going to make an issue of what he did in that situation. To me that's just two guys getting at each other, and that's competitive football.

But, yeah, disappointed with just the judgment with Devon because to me he is a leader on our team, and it's just not the way you expect those guys to play. Obviously, you know, you've got to use -- I know it's split seconds of that. It's not like it was some -- whatever. And it's hurting us. That to me is where you have to be able to address it.

Obviously we have some beat-up guys back there, but at the same time that's frustrating as well. So, yeah, definitely a consideration for sure.

On the defensive calls…
TA: Yeah, you know, I think it's about us trying to -- those negative plays, the tackles for loss, the penetration. You have to have that up front. It starts with our defensive line, just trying to manufacture those as best we can.

I know that it's something that we focus on a lot and something we've always been really good at. It's been a trademark for what we do here. So trying to create negative plays, whether it's sacks, tackles for loss, and those lead to take-aways too. So I think it all kind of goes together and fits together.

So still continuing to try to find answers for that. It is something that we spend a lot of time working on and taking a lot of pride in. Yeah, you're right. It wasn't quite what it needed to be a year ago, and this year we haven't done a good job of getting it fixed.

That has to be a big part of who we are because you get people on the negative side of their drives and the first downs, negative plays. Those TFLs you are talking about affects third down and gets us in better situations for that whether it's third and five or third and eight and nine.

Even some of the third downs were very close. Just try to get balls out. I thought, like, one of our pressures, you know, our husky got blocked off the edge and didn't keep the edge. And Lance Bryant is chasing from the inside-out, and it would have been a sack if he stays on the outside. That situation there is executing the call properly and staying outside and leveraging the quarterback.

We just have to continue to develop our guys and recruit players that can be explosive and violent and create those negative plays because obviously it's a big part of it.

On Brendan Sorsby and Dexter Williams II's…
TA: So I would say this. Those guys are very, very -- they're both young. They're both talented guys.

We probably see more of Dexter than we have of Brendan for sure. I think both of them have bright, bright futures.
So to me it's just -- there's really not a -- I think they're very close. There's no doubt about it. I actually thought today Dexter played better, so made more plays. You don't know until you play them, right?

To me they're both very equal. There's no doubt Dexter has been here longer. At the same time moving forward to me it's just those guys are going to be battling it out without a question. I liked what I saw from Dexter, to be quite frank with you.

I think just the consistency of making throws. Obviously the pick was not a good decision. So we have to eliminate those.

Obviously, Brendan threw a pick. A little bit different, but at the same time you would like to be able to have both those guys be developed in our program and continue to compete because I think they have both really have a bright future.

On what went wrong with tonight's offensive game plan…
TA: Well, I think the bottom line is no matter how much time you have or don't have, you have to execute. I feel like it's really difficult up front not being able to give our backs a chance to get seams to run through and the quarterbacks time to throw.

That to me is really the bottom line. I think we have to really focus on getting ourselves continuing to work to get better there because it's not good enough, and it's killing us right now. It's making it very, very difficult for our offense.

I don't care who the quarterback is or who the running back is. There's no doubt. We played a team I think that has a lot of good players, and they do a lot of good things defensively, so you knew it was going to be a challenge without question. Especially if you get behind the sticks and behind your schedule on offense, which happens too many times.

I felt like it was first downs that really kind of hurt us more than anything tonight. But yeah, to me it's a frustrating thing. In order to move the football, just have to start up front. And we have to do a better job in that area for sure, and I don't feel making changes as much as possible and got to keep working on that.

That to me, like I said, there's no magic scheme. You have to block them up front. When you block them up front, then everything works a whole lot better. It's about getting our playmakers the football and letting us have a chance on offense.

I'm excited about these young quarterbacks, but at the same time we have to get better up front so we can highlight those guys and let them do what they do.

Indiana Student-Athletes
Lance Bryant | OLB | Sr-R+
On not being able to make plays on the defensive side of the ball…
LB: It's very frustrating. We just got to come back and work and get those things figured out and get back to the little things, the details.

On how to keep a positive mindset moving forward…
LB: We need to come back to work next week and flush it, have that kind of flush mindset because we have a game next week. You can't dwell on the past. So just come back and try to get to work for next game.

On what made it difficult to stop Kaytron Allen…
LB: Just tackling and basic details of tackling, wrapping up and the details of that.

Taiwan Mullen | DB | Sr.
On tackling issues and making defensive plays…
TM: It's kind of frustrating. The things you go over in practice you try to translate into the game. We're not doing our part as players. The season is not over so we can still work on it.

On what made it difficult to tackle Kaytron Allen…
TM: He's a physical running back. He was running hard. I don't think he was very difficult to tackle, it was just we weren't wrapping him up, and he was doing his part to stay on his feet.

On the interaction with Penn State tight end…
TM: Football is a physical game. Both of us competed. We were both trying to win, and things just got heated.

AJ Barner | TE | Jr.
On the difficulty of moving the ball on offense…
AB: We needed to get into a rhythm, but we just didn't do it. The first drive we had a rhythm, and we moved down the field. Jack getting hurt didn't help either.

On what Dexter Williams II and Brendan Sorsby have shown…
AB: I think Dexter is one of the hardest working people that I know. Dexter is the first person that if you want to get catches in, he will come out here and get catches with you no matter what the time is. So, I feel like I've gotten a lot of reps with him and Brendan also. He's another hard-working kid. He has not been here for too long, but we've been able to get a lot of reps in too.

On staying positive throughout challenges of the season…
AB: With a game like football you only get 12 games, but people don't see the spring ball we go through, the winter workouts that we go through and the whole summer we go through when we create a bond. The guys on this team love each other and have each other's backs. I feel like no matter what happens, we'll always be there for each other.

James Franklin | Penn State Head Coach
Opening Statement
JF: I want to thank the fans that traveled to support our guys. Being able to come on the road and get a big win, they're hard to get. You look at our conference or even nationally, you have to value every win you can get. When you talk about the field position battle, we won that. The turnover battle, we won that. I think that has really been the story of the season and something that I'll emphasize on Sunday with the guys. When we are able to create turnovers on defense and limit them on offense, we are tough to beat. Penalty battle, kind of surprised we won that one. It didn't feel like we did during the game. Then the explosive play battle, we won it. But we did not meet our goal on offense. We did win in terms of ours compared to theirs. Obviously, the 16 tackles for loss are the most we have had since the NCAA started keeping the statistic. Our red zone defense has been tremendous all year long. Nick and Kaytron tied for the freshman record for touchdowns. Obviously, those things are big for us when those guys are producing like that for us in the run game. The last thing I will say is, Jake Pinegar is playing really well. We were concerned about their return man, #12 Jaylin Lucas, and I thought our kickoffs today were consistent and made that guy a non-factor. Good things to build on.

On the offensive line play…
JF: I can't have it both ways, I can't say I'm not going to talk about injuries and then expect you guys to understand how challenging they are. Sheldon as a true freshman, starting at left tackle in the Big Ten in this type of game on the road, he hasn't played a whole lot. We tried to redshirt him if we could. Not only did he play, he also played well. You got JB Nelson, who we tried to redshirt as well, played a ton of reps today. You see Sal, he's banged up and bruised but he battled today. Hunter, same thing. He's banged up and bruised, but he battled today. Really proud of those guys. What they did, and how they did it and for the sacrifices they make for this team. I am really proud of how they played and their toughness.

On sticking with Sean Clifford as quarterback…
JF: Nothing had changed. I said that I had discussed it with members on the staff, but nothing had changed from our perspective. Everybody still saw it the same way. I wanted to make sure I wasn't too close to the decision. Literally to a man, everybody saw it the same way. Obviously, we would have loved to get Drew in this game. That was part of the plan, and hopefully we can continue to get him as many reps as he possibly can. For us, there wasn't a lot of discussion. We had one dialogue and then went back to our normal operation.

On Kaytron Allen's play complimenting Drew Allar…
JF: I think it's really important that we got two really good backs who obviously, we are excited about. They are getting a ton of reps and tons of experience. But I think your point is a good one. What we continue to do is not only continue to develop and recruit at the quarterback position, but also make sure we continue to surround those guys with as much talent as possible, so we give ourselves the best chance to win week in and week out. To be able to throw a checkdown to Kaytron Allen, and he breaks it for 40 or 50 yards. Those are big time plays. Those things are obviously really valuable.

Related Videos