Some of Joe Paterno’s comments after Saturday’s victory over Michigan.
Can you evaluate Matt McGloin’s performance?
Paterno: Well I thought he did well. I thought the whole team played well. We never had a turnover, we never fumbled, I don’t even think we had a penalty. That’s about as well as we can play. We did a lot of good things and I think Matt had a lot to do with it. But overall, it really was a good football game if you didn’t take sides. I think their kids played well. That (Denard) Robinson kid is a heck of a football player. It was a good effort and I think Matt had a lot to do with it. He had a lot of poise.
Can you talk about Evan Royster’s performance tonight?
Paterno: I thought that’s the best he’s played. I thought he had a little more running room. He had a chance to make some decisions and he had time to make some decisions because we stayed on some blocks. I think he overall did a good job. He must have broken the record, did he break it today? I don’t know how many yards he got. But he’s a good back, a good solid back. But he’s like all of them, he needs some running room. I think he got some today and he took advantage of it.
Can you talk about the play of the offensive line?
Paterno: I think we played better. We didn’t put ourselves in bad situations. I think we only gave up one sack. We we’re sacked when we ran the bootleg and the kid came and he wasn’t accounted for. He just got right in there and it was a good call on their part. But I think the offensive line did a good job.
Considering the problems that Robinson brings, how well did the defense play?
Paterno: I thought we played well. I think we got a little panicky early and then we had the one bad play when the kid started to scramble and we dropped off the one guy when they made that long touchdown catch. But I think overall we were alert and we made them earn some things. You don’t realize how quick (Robinson) is. He is impressive on film. But until you run around him, you see guys that can move pretty well and he ran right away from them. I think overall, once we settled down, we played pretty well.
Your team was young and inexperienced. How important was a win tonight for the confidence of the team?
Paterno: Well I think it was important. They have to get the feeling of what it takes to get some confidence in themselves. It’s good they can go out there and play a good football team and do as well as they did. I was impressed with the fact that we didn’t do anything silly. We were pretty solid. I think that’s a sign of growing up.