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Pastimes : College Football: Nits, Gators, Bruins, Vols - Whoever! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: happynappy who wrote (4940)	11/12/2001 8:04:50 PM
From: MythMan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11146

Savvy thinking on your part re; no line. Vegas has pulled it too due to injury to Zack.. As for Drummond he did look good. In fact, all the RB's look good....especially when the boy wonder is QB'ing

To: happynappy who wrote (4940)	11/13/2001 1:05:10 PM
From: MythMan	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 11146

Joe Paterno press conference recap -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Zack Mills' status - The doctors will have more to say about his status than Joe will. It's a day-by-day thing. There's an outside chance Zack will play. If he's not close to 100%, Zack will not play both for his sake and that of the team. Joe has a lot of confidence in Matt Senneca. He's had some bad luck, but he can get the job done. The staff is expecting Senneca to be the QB against Indiana. 2. The receivers don't have as much trouble catching Senneca's passes in practice as they do in games. Some of the passes were catchable, and some were poor throws by Matt. Nobody's perfect. It's hard to explain why the receivers are dropping passes they should catch in games. 3. The staff had always planned on playing Michael Robinson at some point this year, but the opportunity hasn't presented itself. Early in the season, he wasn't ready to play. Now, he'll have to play this week if the team gets into a jam. The staff has talked with Mike and he wants to do what he can to help the team even if it means losing his redshirt late in the season. 4. Indiana has always been a good offensive football team. Once they got Randle-El back at QB, they've gotten into a groove. Their TB and FB have had some big games. Cam Cameron has done a good job with that team. The players are feeling better about themselves, kind of like Penn State. 5. Joe feels for Matt Senneca. Sue told Joe that Matt had taken the blame for the loss, and he immediately called Matt and told him he didn't have to do that because players were not making some plays for him. Everyone on the team, coaches and players, contributed to that loss. One person shouldn't shoulder the blame for it. Joe appreciated that Matt said what he did, but he didn't want anyone to take full blame for the loss. 6. Joe had no reason to be surprised by Cameron's move of Randle-El to WR at the beginning of the season. Randle-El is one of the best athletes PSU has ever played against at QB. 7. Joe was asked how 3rd and long situations have been addressed by the defense in practice since the team has been plagued by giving up 3rd and long conversions. Joe said you can't practice against a situation like the 3rd and 10 that Kittner converted late in the game. He said that Kittner made a great play and you can't practice for that. 8. The staff has to decide how much Eddie Drummond will play at RB and how much he'll play at WR. He will be a more integral part of the offense this week than he was in the Illinois game. 9. Michael Haynes has played well overall this season. Joe thinks that he probably should have subsituted Sam Ruhe in for Haynes more often so that Michael wouldn't get tired.He's no Courtney Brown, but who is? (Haynes indicated in his pc that he felt pressure to live up to Courtney's legacy.) 10. Facing a team like Indiana, your defensive scheme changes a little bit, but it still comes down to lining up, executing your assignment, and playing like hell. 11. The defensive line is getting better all the time. There were some encouraging signs on defense against Illinois before they got tired. We made some progress defensively, but that has to continue. It's tough to quantify how much the line has had to do with the overall improvement of the defense. 12. Joe will remember this senior class as a hard working group. They haven't had as much success as pas classes, but they've had their moments. Joe hopes the seniors have good memories of the program. They've had a good impact on Penn State football and the university. 13. Joe didn't want to comment on Michael Haynes' facemask penalty. He can't honestly say it was a bad call. Joe didn't ask Michael if he grabbed the facemask or not. That penalty is an example of something(inopportune penalties) that hurt the team earlier in the season and came back to hurt them again at Illinois. 14. The fact that bowl contention is on the line for PSU this week will be in the back of the players' minds, but you have to take it one at a time. The players have to zero in and focus on this week. They have to get better this week in practice and be prepared to play their best football of the season on Saturday. 15. Joe's not sure that they will use Drummond exclusively at RB. They have to figure out just how good Eddie is. He hasn't done as well at WR as they had hoped. Joe said he might have made a mistake in not using him at RB earlier in his career. They've tried to use Eddie at the spot where he could help the team most since his freshman year. When kids come into your program, you have to make a guess on where they'll best fit. 16. How long can you pin Senneca's performance on bad luck? Joe said he doesn't know how else to describe it. Matt works hard, he puts the ball out there and guys drop the ball. Joe didn't say that Matt was sharp, but he wasn't as bad as people are making him out to be. The fans and media are being unfair to Matt Senneca. Sometimes people let the bad things that happen to them beat them down. You have to keep hustling and good things will eventually happen to them. 17. Have you ever had a situation where the team responded so differently to one QB over another? Joe said that was Mark Brennan's observation, not his. Joe told Mark he doesn't know what he's talking about. 18. The thing with Michael Robinson is that when Zack comes back, you've got 3 QBs and he won't be used again this year. Joe feels that Senneca and Mills are better than Robinson right now. In situations with Iorio and McKelvy, the staff planned on using them from the time they started getting pt for the rest of the season, so it's different. 19. Eric Dare has been playing Randle-EL in practice. 20. Mills has not been on crutches, but there's still some separation in his ankle. The medical people compared the injury to John Gilmore's injury earlier in the season and that took John 8-12 days to recover from. 21. Joe didn't look at the Indiana tapes from earlier in the season. From what he's seen, Indiana is a very good football team. 22. Lamar Stewart has to turn up the speed a little bit to get more playing time. Benfatti played a good football game, a tough game. He and Toles complement each other well at that LB spot. 23. Safeties leading the team in tackles is becoming a trend because more teams are playing the spread offense, so you have to take a LB out of the game and add a DB. 24. Joe was asked about players leaving early vs. staying their full 4-5 years and graduating. Joe said he wasn't proud of Lavar Arrington for leaving early and not getting his degree. Lavar should have stayed for his senior year because he needed to work on his techniques, but his techniques aren't worth missing out on $30 million. He is most proud of the kids who work hard and get their degree while they're working hard on the field. 25. Indiana has a large offensive playbook. They run a lot of formations, and a lot of plays off of those formations. That takes an experienced QB, and that's what Randle-El has in addition to his tremendous athletic ability. Randle-El has learned from his mistakes. He's smart and is a good competitor. 26. The Hoosiers' FB will hurt you. They have 3 good RBs. It ought to be an interesting game.

To: happynappy who wrote (4940)	11/13/2001 8:34:40 PM
From: MythMan	Respond to of 11146

Mills doubtful with ankle sprain; Senneca to start vs. IU STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Those gusts blowing through Happy Valley -- they're the wind coming from Penn State's sails. Zack Mills, the freshman quarterback who led Penn State to consecutive wins against Northwestern, Ohio State and Southern Mississippi, is doubtful for Saturday's home finale against Indiana. That leaves junior Matt Senneca as the starter. Although Senneca has been knocked by many fans -- and knocked out of three games -- coach Joe Paterno says he's not concerned. "I have a lot of confidence in Matt Senneca, and I've said that from Day 1," Paterno said. "I think he's had some bad luck, and I just think he can get the job done." But Paterno might be alone. Penn State's quarterback controversy, such as it was, began early this year after a first-quarter elbow injury knocked Senneca out of the season opener against Miami. Mills threw for 240 yards that game, setting a Penn State freshman record he has broken three times since. Mills again looked good at Iowa, nearly bringing Penn State back after another Senneca injury. And the freshman got his first start the next week against Michigan when Senneca was still injured. Mills became the clear fan favorite after leading Penn State's game-winning drive in a 38-35 victory at Northwestern -- again after an injury to Senneca -- then took over the starting job in the last two games. A left ankle sprain at the end of the first quarter last week against Illinois sent Mills to the sidelines and Senneca into the game. Although the Nittany Lions led 14-0 when Senneca came in, Illinois came back for a 33-28 victory. After the game, Senneca personally accepted blame for the loss, but his teammates said Senneca was being too hard on himself. "I give all the credit in the world to Matt. He didn't give up on Saturday, and he fought his butt off. We lose as a team and we win as a team," offensive tackle Chris McKelvy said. "I don't think he's deserving of that much blame. We are a team, and there's no one player out on the field who has a direct outcome on the game." Paterno bristles at suggestions that Senneca hasn't gotten the job done when he's played, saying people have failed to notice the things Senneca is doing well. "I think that you guys have really been unfair to him, I might as well tell you," Paterno said of Senneca. "The kid brought us back against Northwestern four or five times. Everybody jumped all over how Zack took the winning drive, but Matt was the guy who kept us in that football game." Paterno said Mills didn't practice Monday, and that it was unlikely he would take the field Tuesday. Although he's still listed as the starter on the depth chart, Mills' status is day to day and Paterno is preparing as if Senneca will start. "There's probably an outside chance he can play, but I don't think it's any better than an outside chance," Paterno said. "He certainly, if he's not 100 percent or close to 100 percent, would not be somebody I would want to play for his sake and because it wouldn't be in the best interest of the football team." If Mills can't play, there's also a concern that true freshman Michael Robinson might lose his redshirt season. Robinson, a quarterback from Virginia, has not played yet this year, and that's the way his coaches would like to keep it. But with Mills out, if Senneca is injured, Robinson might be forced into action. "He'll have to play this week if we get in a jam. We hope -- keep your fingers crossed -- that we don't get in a jam, because you hate to use up a year of eligibility for two or three games," Paterno said. "But we've talked to Michael, and he wants to do what he can to help the football team. If it's necessary that he has to play, then we'll play him." personally, if MS is the guy...I think you and Elvis (Vegas Nit) should me at the Skeller @ 9 am and screw the game)