Ryan Day and Captains Spoke To The Media Before Their Matchup Against Penn State

When asked about Penn State’s running game and the keys to slow Kaytron Allen down:

“I think he’s running as good as anybody in the country and Singleton’s a really good back as well. Both are breaking a lot of tackles, so we have to do a good job of getting the ball, we have to swarm tackle, we have to get them down to the ground, we have to be violent when we get to the ball, again like any good defense we are built inside out. We have to stop the run first; we know that they are going to come in there and run the ball. For their coach to say that they got to come in here and run the ball, it’s a challenge to our defense. It’s a challenge to our defensive line, challenge to our linebackers, challenge to our entire defense, to make sure that doesn’t happen. They’re a very good team, and our guys know what they’re up against. The guys have been locked in this week and know what the challenge is, so now it’s about who puts it on the field, and the other part of it is, on offense; we’ve got to run the ball. We’ve got to make sure we’re moving a line of scrimmage and backs are getting downhill breaking tackles and everybody’s involved in that.”

When asked about the next steps with the team and Julian:

“Well, we’ve only played half a season here, so we’ve just have a lot of football ahead of us. First things first, take care of football. Get us into the right place. Command a line of scrimmage, play well on the third down, play well in the red zone. Big routine plays routinely. We have our chance to take shots; we’ve got to hit them, those types of things. People are waiting to see the entire playbook, every play. We are trying to score touchdowns, we’re not just running the ball and hoping we get three or four yards. We have opportunities. We can break some of these runs, we can break tackles, we throw the football and those types of things. It’s about efficiency. That’s something in the end that’s going to be the difference, the fundamentals. Tackling, blocking, taking care of the football, executing those plays, making guys miss, all those things. Certainly, we’re going to have different things that we can do with attack teams and we will continually work on that, but at the end of the day, we’re driving efficiency right now, and we are challenging our guys, and it’s the same thing for Julian.”