Post-Game Quotes: Penn State
11/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 27, 2010
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Michigan State Coach Mark Dantonio
What does it mean for the program to finally clear an obstacle that was 20 years in the making?
We've tried to build a foundation. We've been to four straight bowl games, and in '08 we came here and failed miserably on the same type of quest. This year we had 35 guys who've been in this situation before. We had guys who were much more confident and much more aware of their surroundings. Experience breeds success, and because we had been in this situation in '08, it gave us an upside in terms of taking the next step and winning the championship.
When you came here from Cincinnati, did it seem like a harder job than you had expected?
I'm a part of the culture. I was here for six years as an assistant coach from 1995-2000. We went to four bowl games at that point. There's great tradition at Michigan State. Now, we haven't won the championship in 20 years, but we've had good, solid football teams that were at bowls and played at a high level. What we wanted to do was try and develop consistency, and we wanted to continue to build a foundation. There was no concern on my part when I came here in '07 that we'd be successful. It was just a matter of time.
You've achieved the goal of a championship, do you believe you're deserving of a BCS berth?
I do think that. I think right now we're one of the top eight or nine teams in the nation. I know only two teams can come from the Big Ten, but you certainly have to throw our hat in the ring. We're the only football team that's beaten Wisconsin, and I might add that we did it convincingly. I'll say it twice, we did it convincingly. They're up there at six or seven, and we should be right there with them. Our goal is to win the championship. That's our number one goal. Where people place us from there, we'll still go to whatever bowl we go to as Big Ten champs.
What pleased you most about the way you attacked Penn State?
I think we had a very workman-like attitude. We ran the ball effectively. We passed the ball when we needed to. We came up with trick plays. I thought Coach Treadwell called a great game as did Coach Narduzzi. We got off the field. They made a couple plays against us which made it interesting, but things happen. They have a good football team. They have great players here who make plays. I thought we played very fundamentally sound for the most part. I thought we were in charge for pretty much the whole football game.
Can you look at the guys who've been here for years and see the satisfaction in their eyes?
You see a lot of satisfaction. To get to where we are right now, a lot of work had to be done. Collectively as a group, whether it's workouts or learning defenses or offenses, when you stop and think about the time spent preparing for a football game, a football championship, a football season, it's an incredible amount of time. There are so many people invested in it.
What's going through your mind, with everything you've been through this season, to have a championship cap on your head?
I'm extremely content. That's the way I feel. I don't feel like I'm going to go run down the hall with my hair on fire or anything like that. I'm just very, very content. I feel very blessed with my health and how our football team has rallied around each other and responded in the face of adversity throughout the season. There's a lot of faith in that locker room...faith on the field and off the field. They go hand-in-hand, and I think that helps with our success ratio.
Senior linebacker Eric Gordon
This football team is in a much better position than when you arrived, can you talk about leaving a legacy?
I came here in 2006 and went through the whole coaching change. When I first stepped foot on Michigan State's soil, I wanted to win a Big Ten Championship. Ever since then, every year, we've gone for it. We've played for the Big Ten Championship and lost. And finally, my senior year, everything came together. I'm glad to leave a legacy and to leave here as a senior knowing that I helped win a Big Ten Championship.
Senior quarterback Kirk Cousins
This is what you play for, to win a Big Ten Championship, can you describe it?
We're Big Ten Champions and no one can ever take that away from the walls of our stadium. We always talk about being champions, and we did it. It's a special moment, and you don't even know how much being a champion is stressed in our building, what championship teams do and what we need to do to be a championship team, and here we are with a championship on our resume, which no one can ever take away from us.
After the celebration in the end zone with all the fans, you ran to the other corner to celebrate, were those your family and what was that feeling like?
Yes, those were family and friends, the people I am closest to and I wanted to celebrate with them. It was an extremely special feeling I can't even put into words.
Did the tough loss here two years ago when you had a chance to win the Big Ten Championship come to mind today after you walked away with a significant victory this time?
The biggest word here is experience. We talked at the beginning of the year about having a strong football team because of the experience we had coming back. We could never underestimate the value of having been there before does. In 2008 we hadn't had a single guy on the team play for a Big Ten Championship before and we came out here today with 30 to 35 guys who traveled to that game and experienced that and I think that helped us today. This team has come a long way and I credit Penn State because in 2008 that was a very special football team with a lot of guys playing in the NFL now. Experience was the biggest reason why we got it done today and all season.
How much was made of winning here at Penn State?
I don't know if we have ever won here since they joined the Big Ten. A win here is special and it's another one of our demons we killed this season.
Senior linebacker Greg Jones
How does this win feel?
All of our games so far this season have lead up to this and it is a truly amazing feeling right now. It's something we can enjoy forever.
You have been here through the years where Michigan State found a way to screw up during the season, but it seems there has been a culture change under Coach Dantonio, is that correct?
The culture change started back when I was recruited. The first thing he talked about was winning and what it was going to be like. Now we don't find ways to lose and people have to realize that this is a different Michigan State. Coach D motivates us and makes us want to win.
How does he do it?
Every day in practice, he stresses why we practice and our endurance in tough times. We run even when doing well, we run extra and he explains that it is so we can win. He puts it in our minds, what we need to do to win.
You had a pretty tough team to play on the road, which you couldn't beat on the road two years ago, did that come to mind today?
We played on the road, which is pretty hard, especially with the crowd here. The important thing was that we stayed focused and the offense responded very well. The defense just tried to put together a stop. When we stay focused and determined, there isn't anything we can't do, whether that's at home or away.
Penn State Coach Joe Paterno
Is it safe to say that penalties and mental mistakes cost you the game?
Well I don't know if they cost us a game but they shouldn't have had an impact on it. But every time you complain about something like that you take something else away from the other guy. Michigan State is a good, solid football team. They didn't have a real significant penalty until almost the end of the game. They got that one on the second down when they were coming down the field, but I think they overcame that. They played a good game. You have to give Michigan State credit. Yeah, sure the penalties hurt us, but having said that, you want to look at one or two of them. But I don't want to take anything away from Michigan State. They are a good, solid football team and I don't want to take anything away from the Penn State football team because I think the kids hung in there all year, had their downs, but I think you saw a great football team today. You have seen good football teams most of the year, so that's the way it is.
How tough was Michigan State's balanced offense?
They were good. (Kirk) Cousins is good. Their wide outs were good. They have a solid offensive line. I think they are good. They have a solid kicking game; they didn't make any mistakes in the kicking game. As you mentioned, they got some breaks. Well you can call them breaks, but they got help from some penalties we had.
You talked about the opportunity for your young team to get a big win against a ranked team. Is there any disappointment of where you guys were at this year?
I don't know if there is any disappointment. I thought going into the season to be very frank with you, I thought we had a shot at being 8-4. We had some tough games that included three tough teams on the road. I thought we would probably be better than we were on that stage. We lost one game at home that I thought we would win before the season. So we were one win away record-wise of what I thought our expectation should have been with this football team. I think at the end of the year we became a good team. I thought the young kids had some chances to be in the tough games. There were some games that they were behind and they were able to come back. You had one game where we had a chance to have a very significant victory and we couldn't handle that. I think it was an up and down year. I think we had to expect the team to be a little up and down. I think we turned out to be the way I wanted, even though I thought we could've had another win or two. I think we played decent football most of the time.
I know your record was similar to what you thought it would be. But did you see any progress in your team?
Yeah, I think I tried to say that I thought maybe we did make a little more progress than I thought we would. To be frank with you, there were a couple teams that I thought would not be as good as they were. We had our ups and downs. We had troubles with those people. There were two teams that I thought would be better than they really were. There were maybe three that had their ups and downs but still played pretty good football.
Can you talk a little bit about your senior class?
I'm going to miss them obviously. There are a couple of guys that are talking about getting into the NFL. I'm not sure whether they should or shouldn't. But I think overall it was a tough year for them and they were able to hang in there. There weren't enough of them that showed the type of senior leadership you would expect out of your senior class. We introduced, 15, 16 kids today. I don't know how many of them were walk-ons. We probably had more walk-ons who played and made contributions that we've had on any other team that I've coached in a long time.
