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PSU FOOTBALL

Joe’s speech came at perfect moment

By Derek Levarse dlevarse@timesleader.com
Sports Reporter

Decades of coaching have taught Joe Paterno when to pick his spots. Last Friday was one of those times.

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Penn State head coach Joe Paterno felt his team needed a spark before last Saturday’s game against Michigan. So the 82-year-old coach got a little fired up before kickoff, giving his team some extra energy and helping the Lions to a 35-10 win.

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Less than 24 hours before taking on Michigan in Ann Arbor, Penn State’s coach sensed it was time to give his team a spark.

After hearing all week about Michigan’s decade-plus of dominance over the Nittany Lions, and the Wolverines’ improvement from 2008, Paterno wanted to remind his players which team was the one nationally ranked.

“I’ve been telling you guys how good I think you are. It’s time you tell me how good you are, and go out and play that way,” Paterno told the squad, according to his son, quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno.

By all accounts, it did the trick. After the Lions went out and stomped Michigan 35-10, multiple players discussed the energy Paterno gave them leading right up to kickoff.

Quarterback Daryll Clark was watching him right before the team took the field.

“Both teams come out of the same tunnel (at Michigan Stadium), and we were waiting for Michigan to go down,” Clark said. “They’re going rah-rah and making a lot of noise, running down the tunnel.

“We looked over at Joe, and he’s jumping up and down, talking, ‘Yeah, yeah!’ I’m looking at him and I’m like, ‘OK. It’s time to play some football.’”

The 82-year-old coach may not have been able to take a running leap at Michigan’s famous “GO BLUE” banner at midfield, but his attitude has rubbed off on some of the players.

Now Penn State is playing its best football of the season heading into Saturday’s game at Northwestern and next week’s showdown with Ohio State.

Earning a decisive win over the Wolverines gives the Lions an extra shot of confidence heading into that stretch.

“(The players) needed it maybe more than I needed it,” Paterno said. “I kept telling them, ’You’re pretty good, you’re pretty good. You’ve got to go out there and play a big, tough game.’”

Now the issue is not looking past a Northwestern program that has been infamous for springing big upsets since the mid-90s.

In these past two seasons, Penn State has improved dramatically as a road team after repeatedly falling flat away from Beaver Stadium for most of this decade. Though the Lions were upset at Iowa last season, they turned in their biggest road triumph since winning at Miami in 1999 when they held off Ohio State in Columbus last October.

This year, they’ve managed to turn a pair of close road games into comfortable victories with strong second-half perfomances at Illinois and Michigan.

At this point, Paterno is concerned about a ninth straight game without an off week. He mentioned that the coaches would be focusing more on special teams following the second blocked punt given up this season, but he didn’t want it to distract too much from the normal routine.

“You’ve gotta be careful,” Paterno said. “The one thing I’m worried about always, particularly when we’re at this stage where we haven’t had an off week, is that ... you make sure you’re not overlooking anything. We’re concerned about the kicking game, we’re going to spend more time with the kicking game, and yet we don’t want to take something away -- we’ll end up with a tired football team.

“That’s the biggest problem, the biggest concern I have. Get them prepared but don’t overwork them. And two (road) games back-to-back have a bearing on that.”

Paterno on watch list

On Thursday, Paterno was named to the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Football Coach of the Year Watch List. A total of 20 FBS coaches are on the list, with Paterno and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz representing the Big Ten.

Paterno won the inaugural Bryant Award in 1986 and was a finalist in 1994 and 2005. He also won the award in 1978 and 1982 before the Bryant-American Heart Association sponsorship began. He was also on the watch list last season.

Paterno did not appear on his weekly radio show on Thursday, as defensive coordinator Tom Bradley and offensive coordinator Galen Hall took his place. No reason was given.

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