Joe Paterno Press Conference Quotes: Sept 8, 2009 | Week Two: Syracuse
On Syracuse QB Greg Paulus:
I think, regardless of how good a competitor you are and how alert you are, there’s still some adjustments that have to be made.
Basketball’s a different tempo type of game than football, but I thought he did a great job (vs. Minnesota). I know he had a bad play in the overtime, but other than that, I thought he did a good job. They got behind and he kept in there with them and did some really good things.
He’s a good athlete, obviously, and he’ll get better and better as they go along.
I think he’s obviously an awfully good athlete. He’s not quite as comfortable in the pocket, and you would expect him not to be. He hasn’t been there for awhile. So he scrambles a little more than probably they want him to, but he’ll get better and better.
I think there will be a tremendous jump from his performance in the first game, which was a good one against Minnesota, because they were down (SU trailed 14-3 in first quarter). It wasn’t as if they went out there and everything went their way. They were down, and he hung in there with them, and his teammates hung in with him, and overall it’s an entirely different Syracuse team this year than it was last year. They’re playing with much more fire and enthusiasm, and I think a lot of that you have to give obviously to the new coaching staff, but I think Paulus would be a guy that’s had a lot to do with their enthusiasm and the way they’re playing right now.
On Navorro Bowman:
Bowman did not practice yesterday, and I don’t know whether he’ll be at full strength. He’s got an awful lot of swelling in that muscle, and whether it’s around the muscle, I don’t know. But he didn’t do anything yesterday, and I’m sure he won’t do anything today, and it’s probably an outside chance as to whether he’ll play or not Saturday.
On Recruiting Syracuse Coach Doug Marrone:
You know, he was a good solid kid. I remember that, and I don’t remember exactly what he wanted to study. But we used to…had a tough time with beating Syracuse when we got into New York City or started to work our way up north into the Albany, Schenectady, those areas, and of course, the old lower tier, Binghamton… So yeah, we gave it a good shot, as I remember. But you know, he thought that was the better place for him, and obviously it turned out well for him.
On Ohio State vs USC and Big Ten Media Perceptions:
I think that’s something you guys can probably better analyze than I can. I know Ohio State is playing Southern Cal. I wasn’t sure that Michigan was playing Notre Dame. That one I hadn’t, I probably should have known it.
But as I said, what difference does it make how I perceive the Big Ten? It’s up to what the public does and the media does. I’m only worried about us. I’m worried about Syracuse. I haven’t got time to be worrying about the other things, to be very frank with you.
And actually, I would hope that the Big Ten teams would win. But that’s like last night, watching Florida State and Miami, I had nobody I was pulling for. I just thought it was a heck of a football game and kept me up too late.
But, as a fan and also as somebody trying to learn something, watching people do things, I watched the game last night, and if I have a chance to watch – what time’s the Ohio State game go on? It’s at night? – So I’ll have a chance to watch that. And I’ll try to, obviously, make some notes for the future when we do end up playing them.
Source: GoPSUSports.com
