Here are some nuggets from Joe Paterno's press conference today.
- Joe called Sean Lee "Day-to-day" and isn't sure if he will play on Saturday. He was on the field yesterday, but didn't do anything.
- Bowman practiced for about 1/3 of Monday's practice. They will evaluate him as the week goes on.
- Joe says Daryll Clark is important to the team, and they are not going to run him if they don't have to. But they will do what they have to do to win the football game.
- Joe is worried about the linebackers with all the injuries. Mauti, Lee, and Bowman were supposed to be the top three linebackers. Right now all three are injured. Says Stupar can be good, but he is irratic at times. Same with Bani Gbadyu. Josh Hull has to hold the thing all together.
- Graham Zug will practice today and Joe thinks he will be ok for Saturday.
- A couple guys up front on the kick return team are missing their blocks which is causing the problems on the return game. It's not the timing with the wedge being too close to the return man.
- Joe does not like the word "revenge" in reference to this game with Iowa. Iowa licked us last year. "It's not like they sneaked up on us and stabbed us in the back with a knife" They're just approaching this game as they would prepare for a good football team.
- Ricky Stanzi is a good football player. He's not flashy. Not one of those kids who calls attention to himself. He's a coach's quarterback. Knows what's going on. Looks a little shaky in the beginning of games, but puts it together in the second half.
- Says Iowa has some good running backs. He thought they might be shaky without Shonn Greene, but doesn't look that way.
- Dennis Landolt is a solid tackle. Didn't have a great game against Temple which is unusual for him. He's not an emotional kid, but he comes to work every day and pays attention to the little things.
- Jared Odrick is a little more of a free spirit that the kids that have played at tackle. Spends a lot of time looking at blocking schemes so he can take advantage. He's a fine football player.
- Joe didn't want to get into Kirk Ferentz's 6-1 record against Penn State. Says he's just worried about this year.
- Joe doesn't know if the flu is still hanging around the team. Everyone was in practice yesterday. One or two kids are still getting over it. He thinks they're ok this week, but tomorrow they might have five or six kids say they came down with it.
- Joe says they haven't run everything in the play book yet. Doesn't know how much they have or haven't run yet. They did hold some stuff back. They went into the Temple game determined to run it more.
- The linebackers will be Hull, Stupar, and Gbadyu if Lee and Bowman can't go.
- He's not comfortable with the goal line offense yet. But they will get better as the offensive line gets more experience. They probably haven't spent enough time on the goal line yet.
- The first team and second team on offense and defense get the same amount of practice reps because you never know when you are going to need a backup player to step in. That may be different from what other schools do.
- Joe isn't aware of any problems with Sean Lee's ankle. Says he has a sprained knee.
- The kickoff coverage is not very good. He seems to think it's a personnel problem more than anything. They've had to put some guys in there that haven't played a lot of football.
- Joe tries to pace the day so the players can rest up for these late games. The toughest part is the kids have friends and family that want to hang out before the game. He has to keep them focused.
- Jack Crawford will be good when he gets more confidence in himself.
- The Whiteout is a great place to play a football game. To have games here with our crowd has been an advantage for us. It's a bringing together of the whole institution. It's fun, and it's great to be a part of it. The kids look forward to it. They enjoy the rallies the night before. Joe made a little dig at Bobby Bowden and Florida State at the end when he said, "What do you do when you're in college? How many things do you do where you are involved with 110,000 other people on the same page? Unless you're in an English class cheating with 30 other guys."
Zing!