Temple University Athletics
Photo by: Joseph V. Labolito/Temple University
Football Looks Ahead to Penn State
11.11.14 | Football
PHILADELPHIA- After Friday night's loss to the Memphis Tigers on a last second field goal, head coach Matt Rhule held his weekly press conference to discuss the team's upcoming meeting with in-state rival, Penn State. The November 15 matchup will be broadcast from Beaver Stadium on ESPN2 with a kickoff at 12 p.m. Those in the Philadelphia area can listen to the game on 97.5 The Fanatic with Harry Donahue (play-by-play), Paul Palmer (analyst) and Harry Mayes (sidelines).
Below is Coach Rhule's opening statement and selected quotes:
"First, thank you everyone for being here. We obviously got started on game week, had a good Tuesday practice. We're trying to put last week behind us and move forward to play a non-conference game, an inter-state game against Penn State, which is a great opportunity for us this week.
Just touching back on last week's game, I think a lot of credit has to go to Memphis; they made one or two more plays than we did. I think you'll back at the end of the year, like I told our team, and they'll be 9-3 or 8-4 and win or share the conference. With two seconds left, we had the game tied. I think we're getting closer, but as long as we have penalties and turnovers and the special teams miscues that we had, we won't win those games. We're concentrating on us, trying to get rid of the penalties; we had two penalties with the ball on goal to go, which hopefully would have resulted in two touchdowns, but neither drive we scored on. We had two turnovers, one on the 10-yard line and the other on the 15-yard line, and a blocked punt.
Despite all that, we hung on in the game, and I think that's a credit to our defense, they played well, and Kenny Harper played extremely well. As we move forward to this week, we have to eliminate the mistakes to play against an extremely talented and well-coached Penn State team. Looking at them, offensively, you start with Christian Hackenberg, he's as good of a quarterback as there is in the country; he's a tremendous arm talent, extremely smart, can make every throw, and will challenge you down the field. DaeSean Hamilton is a tremendous receiver and Bill Belton, their running back. WR Saeed Blacknall is really coming on for them right now, so you can see that he's another weapon for them. They have a myriad of really good tight ends and some experience on the offensive line.
Offensively, they pose problems and defensively, Shoop's done a great job of that defense; they basically shut out Indiana last weekend, who only scored on defense, so you see why they're so effective in what they do. They have a lot of great players on defense but the one that really stands out to me is Zettle inside; he's probably the best defensive lineman we'll face this year, he's a three-technique and extremely active. They have a lot of high end guys like Adrian Amos at safety, Mike Hull at linebacker, who is another great Penn State linebacker. So they have a really talented team, a really good team and we'll go out there and play as well as we can."
On what it was like growing up in State College:
"I moved there my junior year of high school. My dad was originally from there and we went there to be closer to his family. It's a great town, with great people, a great high school, great friends."
On memories of what a Fall Saturday was like:
"As great a town as it is, it really comes alive when there is a football game being played. I remember when BYU came in one year with Ty Detmer. They were good and he was the best player in the game at that time. I remember the town being electric. Growing up there were some great games that I had a chance to see."
On the importance of going to Penn State to learn from Coach Paterno with the goal of being a football coach:
"Coach Paterno is a hall of fame coach. I knew this is what I wanted to do. My dad was a coach, my uncle (Chuck Sponsky) is in the Pennsylvania high school coach's hall of fame. I was lucky to have been raised among great coaches. I saw an opportunity to go to Penn State and learn hands on from the best."
On what Joe Paterno was like:
"He was a demanding man, a charismatic man, just a really good man. He demanded the best from you. He was relentless in his pursuit of excellence – not just on the field but in the classroom and on campus. He pushed everyone to be the best they can be."
On if there are any regrets that Coach Paterno will not be on the opposite sideline:
"I had a chance to be on the on the sidelines against him as an assistant., I know how special that was for Al [Golden] (the only former PSU student-athlete to coach against Coach Paterno). At the end of the day, there are a lot of nameless, faceless Penn State football players who came through there during Coach Paterno's time. Anytime you get an opportunity to go out there like I will this week, you're going to miss having him across the field."
On how special this game will be:
"Just to go back and play there in front of my family and friends is going to be special. There are lots of Reese's and Rhule's in that area. I have aunts and uncles and cousins, all the way out to Reese Hollow and Port Matilda Just to go home is special
On what former Penn State defensive lineman Elijah Robinson has brought to Temple as a first-year defensive line coach:
"He's done a great job here. He's an outstanding coach who was trained really well by [former PSU defensive line coach] Larry Johnson. He relates to the players really well and you can see the difference he's made."
On the importance of hiring former Penn State strength and conditioning coach Jeremy Scott when first hired as head coach at Temple:
"He does an amazing job. If you want to know why we made the improvement we made here it has a lot to do with Jeremy and his strength program. I was fortunate enough to be trained by Jeremy and Coach John Thomas and I think any player who played through that era would tell you how important those men were in our lives."
Game Notes | Conference Notes | Press Conference
Below is Coach Rhule's opening statement and selected quotes:
"First, thank you everyone for being here. We obviously got started on game week, had a good Tuesday practice. We're trying to put last week behind us and move forward to play a non-conference game, an inter-state game against Penn State, which is a great opportunity for us this week.
Just touching back on last week's game, I think a lot of credit has to go to Memphis; they made one or two more plays than we did. I think you'll back at the end of the year, like I told our team, and they'll be 9-3 or 8-4 and win or share the conference. With two seconds left, we had the game tied. I think we're getting closer, but as long as we have penalties and turnovers and the special teams miscues that we had, we won't win those games. We're concentrating on us, trying to get rid of the penalties; we had two penalties with the ball on goal to go, which hopefully would have resulted in two touchdowns, but neither drive we scored on. We had two turnovers, one on the 10-yard line and the other on the 15-yard line, and a blocked punt.
Despite all that, we hung on in the game, and I think that's a credit to our defense, they played well, and Kenny Harper played extremely well. As we move forward to this week, we have to eliminate the mistakes to play against an extremely talented and well-coached Penn State team. Looking at them, offensively, you start with Christian Hackenberg, he's as good of a quarterback as there is in the country; he's a tremendous arm talent, extremely smart, can make every throw, and will challenge you down the field. DaeSean Hamilton is a tremendous receiver and Bill Belton, their running back. WR Saeed Blacknall is really coming on for them right now, so you can see that he's another weapon for them. They have a myriad of really good tight ends and some experience on the offensive line.
Offensively, they pose problems and defensively, Shoop's done a great job of that defense; they basically shut out Indiana last weekend, who only scored on defense, so you see why they're so effective in what they do. They have a lot of great players on defense but the one that really stands out to me is Zettle inside; he's probably the best defensive lineman we'll face this year, he's a three-technique and extremely active. They have a lot of high end guys like Adrian Amos at safety, Mike Hull at linebacker, who is another great Penn State linebacker. So they have a really talented team, a really good team and we'll go out there and play as well as we can."
On what it was like growing up in State College:
"I moved there my junior year of high school. My dad was originally from there and we went there to be closer to his family. It's a great town, with great people, a great high school, great friends."
On memories of what a Fall Saturday was like:
"As great a town as it is, it really comes alive when there is a football game being played. I remember when BYU came in one year with Ty Detmer. They were good and he was the best player in the game at that time. I remember the town being electric. Growing up there were some great games that I had a chance to see."
On the importance of going to Penn State to learn from Coach Paterno with the goal of being a football coach:
"Coach Paterno is a hall of fame coach. I knew this is what I wanted to do. My dad was a coach, my uncle (Chuck Sponsky) is in the Pennsylvania high school coach's hall of fame. I was lucky to have been raised among great coaches. I saw an opportunity to go to Penn State and learn hands on from the best."
On what Joe Paterno was like:
"He was a demanding man, a charismatic man, just a really good man. He demanded the best from you. He was relentless in his pursuit of excellence – not just on the field but in the classroom and on campus. He pushed everyone to be the best they can be."
On if there are any regrets that Coach Paterno will not be on the opposite sideline:
"I had a chance to be on the on the sidelines against him as an assistant., I know how special that was for Al [Golden] (the only former PSU student-athlete to coach against Coach Paterno). At the end of the day, there are a lot of nameless, faceless Penn State football players who came through there during Coach Paterno's time. Anytime you get an opportunity to go out there like I will this week, you're going to miss having him across the field."
On how special this game will be:
"Just to go back and play there in front of my family and friends is going to be special. There are lots of Reese's and Rhule's in that area. I have aunts and uncles and cousins, all the way out to Reese Hollow and Port Matilda Just to go home is special
On what former Penn State defensive lineman Elijah Robinson has brought to Temple as a first-year defensive line coach:
"He's done a great job here. He's an outstanding coach who was trained really well by [former PSU defensive line coach] Larry Johnson. He relates to the players really well and you can see the difference he's made."
On the importance of hiring former Penn State strength and conditioning coach Jeremy Scott when first hired as head coach at Temple:
"He does an amazing job. If you want to know why we made the improvement we made here it has a lot to do with Jeremy and his strength program. I was fortunate enough to be trained by Jeremy and Coach John Thomas and I think any player who played through that era would tell you how important those men were in our lives."
Game Notes | Conference Notes | Press Conference
Tuesday, June 02
Saturday, May 30
Tuesday, May 19
Tuesday, May 05
