Here are the quotes from both coordinators. Some money quotes from Bell as usual. Walt's video should be up shortly and then I'll have Buh up after that.
Offensive Coordinator Walt Bell
Opening Statement:
“Last week (against Purdue), there was good and bad. People see the number on the scoreboard and they automatically assume that I’m doing a great job and we’re doing a great job and that we’re getting better. That’s true and false. There were some good things. Any time you run the football for 400 yards, you’re pretty proud, not only of the big kids up front but of the guys on the perimeter because a lot of those were perimeter-oriented runs. We had a couple of explosive [plays] from B gap to B gap, a long trap, a block zone, but then we had a lot of those runs on perimeter. That’s a tribute to our skilled kids, blocking the way that they have. There was plenty of bad. We had a red zone series where Perry [Hills] took back-to-back sacks. A lot of people see that in protection. Those were movements. That’s ‘get on the edge, it isn’t there, throw it away.’ Those are decisions that we can’t have. You can’t take sacks down there for a couple of reasons. Number one: you’re going to put more pressure on the field goal kicker. Number two: you’re going to leave yourself behind the chains, especially on early downs. Then we had the typical freshman mistake: go the wrong way and two guys slam head-on into each other in the backfield. That’s maybe as embarrassing a moment as I’ve ever had as a football coach. There’s good and bad, and again, as we’re trying to communicate to our kids offensively, I know a lot of people are excited because of how many points we scored. Number one: we are not the 1988 49ers. We have a long way to go. We are by no means a finished product and there are an incredible amount of things we need to work on in pass protection. We can’t turn the ball over. We had two of those last week.
We have to continue to try to get better on the overall throwing game. A big piece of that is the pass protection, but the other thing is from a decision-making standpoint. We have a long way to go. As the level of competition picks up, which it will, and that’s a nice thing about our schedule—each week it’s going to get a little bit better. As that level of competition starts to stand up, we have to reach our potential. For us, and in everything you do in life, it’s about being the best you that you can be. We’re not there yet. That’s ultimately what we’re trying to get to. When we step off the field on Saturday afternoon, how close did we get to being the best we could be? We’ve still got a long way to go.”
On defensive maturity:
“For me, I know a lot of people want to attribute the offensive side of the ball with some of the success that we’ve had, but at the end, go look at what the defense has done. If we have a turnover in our end and they score right there, it’s a two-and-a-half possession game. If they find a way to punch it in and our defense doesn’t hold them out and if not for a penalty, there are seven or three points there and we’re down for one possession. Obviously some of it is program building, some is building in the offseason, some of it you build in the eight months before the season starts, but at the end of the day it’s 18-to 22-year-old kids. You don’t have that great level of maturity that you have in your thirties, when you’re forty or fifty years old. When you’re 18 to 22 years old and one little bad thing happens, think of how you responded poorly as a kid or as an 18 year old or a 22 year old when things didn’t go your way as opposed to how you respond now. Any of those things can completely change the outcome of the game.
I think we did a really good job of not getting rattled early. I think that as things went poorly for [Purdue], I think things snowballed a little bit and spiraled out of control and they couldn’t get it back. If our defense doesn’t do the job that they did, then there’s that possibility. The good news is for us is that we played Central Florida and played as poorly as you could play but won. We took all the body shots you could take and figured out a way to respond. For Perry [Hills] individually, to go out and have his first throw attempt of the game spike off the facemask of a guy that is covered as covered can be then come back on the very next drive and get us down the football field and play well throughout the rest of the game; both of those things will help us build our program and hopefully our team as the season goes.”
On how he motivates his wide receivers to block down the field:
“When the game was over with, there’s lots of people high-fiving and hugging and all that, and that was the first thing I did: I put my arm around those kids (wide receivers) because I played the position. I played really poorly, I’ll put it that way, but for those kids not to get the reward that you typically get and the reward when you’re relied on, it’s a brown ball with the white laces on it. For those kids to not get the ball as much as they usually do and to keep playing, keep blocking and keep doing their job at a high level, that’s huge. At the end of the day, whether it is a planning issue, whether it is whatever it was, Purdue was committed to running us down and not letting us throw the ball on the perimeter. They played a bunch of combo coverage. There were small, empty boxes. We’re going to take what they give us. If you let us run the ball, then that’s what we’re going to do. If somebody wants to put eight or nine guys in there, then we’ll throw the football. We’re the Yogi Berra’s of offense. We’re going where they aren’t. For those kids to do that, that’s huge. For those kids to be mature enough to understand that it’s more than about themselves, that’s a tribute to our program. That’s a tribute to Coach Durkin and the kids themselves.”
On what to improve on:
“There were a bunch of midfield open looks last week. That’s really not great to push the ball down the field and it’s great to look to run the ball. That’s kind of what we did. As we move forward and as the calling card is out that we will run the football, I think we’ll start to see more looks in favor for us to throw the football. I think the two things we need to do a better job of is number one: we need to do a better job of pass protection. A lot of that comes from the fact that we’re playing so many linemen. What you may lose in continuity, you gain in building depth, so when you lose that guard on the last drive of the game to go win a game at some point during the season, it’s not a kid that hasn’t played. We’re still in a program-building phase here. Number two: Purdue didn’t see pretty explosive throws that fit Perry [Hills] and fit who our skilled kids are. That’s on myself, so those are two big pieces we need to clean up, and we’ll continue to do so as we go on.
On weaknesses in Penn State’s defense that Maryland could exploit:
“The one thing I know, I was a graduate assistant for Coach [Brent] Pry, defensive coordinator, he’ll have a good plan. He’s a great football coach, and more importantly than that, he’s a great human being. They’ll be ready to go. Up front, just going down the list, even though they may be a little bit undersized, they’re incredibly active. They have great ball get-off and they have great short-area quickness up front. That’ll be a real test for us, especially inside. Depth is an issue there with the bodies they have to play unexpectedly, but I think besides all that, they’re a good football team. Part of the reason people are running the ball and why that stat can lie to you, people can see 200 yards rushing and they think they’re running the ball well - it’s because they don’t want to throw the ball. Some of those edge players for them are pretty good so you may want to take your chances there. On some of those mixed downs and normal downs, wheeling and dealing, people are making that choice to run the football. Some of it has to do with personality and people they play. Pittsburgh is going to run the football, Temple is going to run the ball. Some of those again, it’s those stats lying to you. I can assure you that whatever we are in scoring in the country right now, if you started ranking offenses, we are not what that is. Stats, check those at the end, but don’t necessarily worry about that right now.
Offensive Coordinator Walt Bell
Opening Statement:
“Last week (against Purdue), there was good and bad. People see the number on the scoreboard and they automatically assume that I’m doing a great job and we’re doing a great job and that we’re getting better. That’s true and false. There were some good things. Any time you run the football for 400 yards, you’re pretty proud, not only of the big kids up front but of the guys on the perimeter because a lot of those were perimeter-oriented runs. We had a couple of explosive [plays] from B gap to B gap, a long trap, a block zone, but then we had a lot of those runs on perimeter. That’s a tribute to our skilled kids, blocking the way that they have. There was plenty of bad. We had a red zone series where Perry [Hills] took back-to-back sacks. A lot of people see that in protection. Those were movements. That’s ‘get on the edge, it isn’t there, throw it away.’ Those are decisions that we can’t have. You can’t take sacks down there for a couple of reasons. Number one: you’re going to put more pressure on the field goal kicker. Number two: you’re going to leave yourself behind the chains, especially on early downs. Then we had the typical freshman mistake: go the wrong way and two guys slam head-on into each other in the backfield. That’s maybe as embarrassing a moment as I’ve ever had as a football coach. There’s good and bad, and again, as we’re trying to communicate to our kids offensively, I know a lot of people are excited because of how many points we scored. Number one: we are not the 1988 49ers. We have a long way to go. We are by no means a finished product and there are an incredible amount of things we need to work on in pass protection. We can’t turn the ball over. We had two of those last week.
We have to continue to try to get better on the overall throwing game. A big piece of that is the pass protection, but the other thing is from a decision-making standpoint. We have a long way to go. As the level of competition picks up, which it will, and that’s a nice thing about our schedule—each week it’s going to get a little bit better. As that level of competition starts to stand up, we have to reach our potential. For us, and in everything you do in life, it’s about being the best you that you can be. We’re not there yet. That’s ultimately what we’re trying to get to. When we step off the field on Saturday afternoon, how close did we get to being the best we could be? We’ve still got a long way to go.”
On defensive maturity:
“For me, I know a lot of people want to attribute the offensive side of the ball with some of the success that we’ve had, but at the end, go look at what the defense has done. If we have a turnover in our end and they score right there, it’s a two-and-a-half possession game. If they find a way to punch it in and our defense doesn’t hold them out and if not for a penalty, there are seven or three points there and we’re down for one possession. Obviously some of it is program building, some is building in the offseason, some of it you build in the eight months before the season starts, but at the end of the day it’s 18-to 22-year-old kids. You don’t have that great level of maturity that you have in your thirties, when you’re forty or fifty years old. When you’re 18 to 22 years old and one little bad thing happens, think of how you responded poorly as a kid or as an 18 year old or a 22 year old when things didn’t go your way as opposed to how you respond now. Any of those things can completely change the outcome of the game.
I think we did a really good job of not getting rattled early. I think that as things went poorly for [Purdue], I think things snowballed a little bit and spiraled out of control and they couldn’t get it back. If our defense doesn’t do the job that they did, then there’s that possibility. The good news is for us is that we played Central Florida and played as poorly as you could play but won. We took all the body shots you could take and figured out a way to respond. For Perry [Hills] individually, to go out and have his first throw attempt of the game spike off the facemask of a guy that is covered as covered can be then come back on the very next drive and get us down the football field and play well throughout the rest of the game; both of those things will help us build our program and hopefully our team as the season goes.”
On how he motivates his wide receivers to block down the field:
“When the game was over with, there’s lots of people high-fiving and hugging and all that, and that was the first thing I did: I put my arm around those kids (wide receivers) because I played the position. I played really poorly, I’ll put it that way, but for those kids not to get the reward that you typically get and the reward when you’re relied on, it’s a brown ball with the white laces on it. For those kids to not get the ball as much as they usually do and to keep playing, keep blocking and keep doing their job at a high level, that’s huge. At the end of the day, whether it is a planning issue, whether it is whatever it was, Purdue was committed to running us down and not letting us throw the ball on the perimeter. They played a bunch of combo coverage. There were small, empty boxes. We’re going to take what they give us. If you let us run the ball, then that’s what we’re going to do. If somebody wants to put eight or nine guys in there, then we’ll throw the football. We’re the Yogi Berra’s of offense. We’re going where they aren’t. For those kids to do that, that’s huge. For those kids to be mature enough to understand that it’s more than about themselves, that’s a tribute to our program. That’s a tribute to Coach Durkin and the kids themselves.”
On what to improve on:
“There were a bunch of midfield open looks last week. That’s really not great to push the ball down the field and it’s great to look to run the ball. That’s kind of what we did. As we move forward and as the calling card is out that we will run the football, I think we’ll start to see more looks in favor for us to throw the football. I think the two things we need to do a better job of is number one: we need to do a better job of pass protection. A lot of that comes from the fact that we’re playing so many linemen. What you may lose in continuity, you gain in building depth, so when you lose that guard on the last drive of the game to go win a game at some point during the season, it’s not a kid that hasn’t played. We’re still in a program-building phase here. Number two: Purdue didn’t see pretty explosive throws that fit Perry [Hills] and fit who our skilled kids are. That’s on myself, so those are two big pieces we need to clean up, and we’ll continue to do so as we go on.
On weaknesses in Penn State’s defense that Maryland could exploit:
“The one thing I know, I was a graduate assistant for Coach [Brent] Pry, defensive coordinator, he’ll have a good plan. He’s a great football coach, and more importantly than that, he’s a great human being. They’ll be ready to go. Up front, just going down the list, even though they may be a little bit undersized, they’re incredibly active. They have great ball get-off and they have great short-area quickness up front. That’ll be a real test for us, especially inside. Depth is an issue there with the bodies they have to play unexpectedly, but I think besides all that, they’re a good football team. Part of the reason people are running the ball and why that stat can lie to you, people can see 200 yards rushing and they think they’re running the ball well - it’s because they don’t want to throw the ball. Some of those edge players for them are pretty good so you may want to take your chances there. On some of those mixed downs and normal downs, wheeling and dealing, people are making that choice to run the football. Some of it has to do with personality and people they play. Pittsburgh is going to run the football, Temple is going to run the ball. Some of those again, it’s those stats lying to you. I can assure you that whatever we are in scoring in the country right now, if you started ranking offenses, we are not what that is. Stats, check those at the end, but don’t necessarily worry about that right now.
