Sept. 20, 2015 Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Norries Wilson | Interim Head Coach
Q: Can you give us an idea of what the past couple of days have been like under these circumstances?
A: It was a regular pregame day for us ... just the head coach wasn't there. Got over to the stadium, went through our normal ritual. Nothing out of the ordinary or anything that seemed strange about the day
Q: Talking about your decision to kick it on the field; did it ever cross your mind to maybe go for it?
A: Yes it did. I decided to kick it, it was 4th and 10 and we had just run what we thought was one of our very good choices in that distance and we decided to kick the field goal.
Q: What was it like being on the sidelines at this game, in terms of the atmosphere and you trying to steer Rutgers today? Was it unusual for you? Did it feel odd without Kyle Flood by your side? What were the emotions that ran through your mind today?
A: I worked for a guy for a while that said, `take the emotion out and coach the player.' That's the situation I found myself in today. Had to help the coaches as well as I could; help my players as well as I could. It wasn't overtly odd or anything of that nature. It happened really quickly at the end of the week. Kind of like a guy coming off the bench and he does OK then all of a sudden he has to play a full game. It wasn't a big deal. A lot of people are making it a bigger deal than it was.
Q: How much was Darius Hamilton able to do this weekend? Was it a boost being able to have that captain back in rotation?
A: I was excited to have Darius back out to play. He had been chomping at the bit to be able to come back and play. I left it to coach Panagos and coach Flood. They talked about how many plays he would have in the rotation so I'm sure coach Panagos kept him to that.
Q: Do you think the negative attention wore on the players at all?
A: I don't think the attention wore on the players at all. I don't think the result was an issue of negative attention on the program or the situation of the head coach being suspended. I think Penn State did a good job of executing their plan better than we did. They ran the ball very effectively against us. Like I said, they had a two-play drive in the second half for [Saquon] Barkley had two carries for a touch down and outside of that the defense played pretty decent in the second half. It's a 60-minute game. We can't talk about playing decent for 14 minutes; you have to play good for 60 minutes to play anyone. In my heart I don't believe this distraction is what caused the result of today.
Q: You are down a number of players. Do you think that lack of "manpower" is affecting the team?
No I don't. I think on offense we've got to be able to live by one of our first tenets. We've got to be able to run the football and block the guy we're against as well. We've got to be able to protect the passer and give him an opportunity to throw the football. We've got to run crisp routes. We've got to be able to run the ball better than the players that are blocking for them. Defensive tackles have to tackle. Take the adjustments from the defensive staff, you have to be able to fit the runs, stop the runs and you've got to be able to wrap it up, bite the ball and bring the guy down. It has nothing to do with the players that weren't there. The players that were there have been trained the same way and have the same responsibility.
Q: Did you feel like you were battling the starting field position all day today?
A: We started out backed up. People feel like it was the crowd noise, that wasn't the case. I haven't looked at the starting field position. It felt like that at times, but I haven't had the chance to see the average drive start so I don't want to give you an uninformed answer. But there were times where I felt that we had a long field to go on a few occasions.
Q: The game seemed to swing in the second quarter. They put up 21 points, what do you think happened?
A: The last touchdown they got, it was solely on me. I didn't catch a deficiency we had when they had the 80-yard run. That changed the complexity somewhat more than it already had. They drove the ball on us a couple of times to get those first two touch downs that they got in the second quarter. We couldn't put anything together consistently to keep a drive going outside of the one that we had in the first quarter. Our lack of consistency, and leaving the defense out there...we just had to stop so many plays that it rode against us at some point.
Q: Obviously no one wants to become a head coach this way, but are you at least having fun doing it?
A: I didn't have any fun tonight. I am sure that no one would want to become a head coach this way. Sometimes you don't get to choose the situation that you're in so you just have to accept the reality that you're in and you have to face it head on. It's my responsibility on game day to make sure the young men execute the plan, and I failed in that today.
Q: Does the loss sting any extra based on the fact that the fans and players to some degree have been trying to make this a rivalry over the past year?
A: No.
Q: Do you consider Penn State and Rutgers to be rivals?
A: When you look at the all-time series, I think that Rutgers has beat Penn State twice and PSU has won maybe 27. I would think that we would have to win some more games against them before some would call it a rivalry.
Q: Why didn't [Hayden] Rettig play?
A: I didn't put Rettig in.
Q: Would you have the authority to? Why didn't you put him in?
A: I would have. I didn't think the situation called for him to go into the game.
Q: How do you feel about [Chris] Laviano's play?
A: I'd have to go back and watch the film. I don't want to give you an answer that is not fully qualified.
Q: How much did you and coach talk this week about making changes once the odds were all up to you when the game started?
A: We had two conversations.
Q: A lot of eyes have been on Rutgers. Seven arrests and coach Flood being suspended...is this program out of control and even if it is not, how much impact has all of this had on the team?
A: This program is not out of control and I am not going to speak on the impact that it has had on this team.
Q: A lot of the big runs came up the middle. Did you see any deficiencies you noticed or mental mistakes or alignment that was out of whack that allowed them to go so much up the middle?
A: I can't give you a qualified answer to that because I was not with the defense all week. I was on the headset with coach Rossi and coach Fraser. They talked about the adjustments that needed to be made and where we were deficient on the runs. That was big. They did a good job of adjusting to them in the second half and a couple got out against us after the adjustment was made. We've got to play better, in all three phases.
Carlton Agudosi | Jr. | WR
Q: What has this week been like for you?
A: We had a good week of practice. We really worked hard this week; we were focused on the game plan so it was a good week of practice. We just didn't finish it out here on the field.
Q: How about you personally? Your role kind of changed unexpectedly, what has that been like?
A: It was really nothing different. I mean, I have been practicing a lot for the last few years so as far as practice it was kind of the same this so it was nothing different.
Q: How much has the offense changed without Leonte (Carroo) here? He is obviously one of the best playmakers; it's like they were almost daring you to throw the ball a little bit.
A: I mean I don't think the offense changed at all.
Darius Hamilton | Sr. | DL
Q: How would you characterize the way the week was with all the headlines coming out?
A: We really don't get caught up in all that. We have got to win with the guys we have and that's something we've got to get back to doing.
Q: Do you think it wore on the guys at all?
A: I don't think so, I think we came out here today and we got out played, out toughed, out executed.
Q: Have you guys closed rank since there's so many people in the media and other people nationally that are kind of against you calling for coach Flood to be fired? There is a lot of negativity surrounding the program; have you guys closed rank on coming closer together?
A: Let me tell you we have problems but it does nothing but bring us closer together. I mean that's when you really find out the kind of people that you are around.
Paul James | Sr. | RB
Q: What do you do as a captain to get everyone to stay focused and bounce back?
A: You know you've got to drive forward. The game is over; you've got to look forward to next week. We play Kansas and we got to get back on the horse and keep moving.
Q: How strange was today without coach Flood around? How different did things feel?
A: It's different but you know we were focused on this game. Coach Wilson has stepped up and we are all behind him.
Q: Why do you think it took the running game so long to get going?
A: You know we just kind of struggled. We weren't really executing the game plan well and that is really what kind of took so long; it took us awhile to get going and that's what made it hard.
Q: Do you consider Penn State and Rutgers to be rivals?
A: I'm not really big into the rivalries. I just come out here to play the game, we come out here to play each week and today we played Penn State and that is how we come out every week.
Q: You know coach Wilson a lot better than most people, being a running back, what was it like having him in charge, how would you describe it?
A: It was the same for me really, because you know he is always in charge for us as running back coach so really he is just a determined guy. He wants to win so he focuses on that. Throughout the whole week he is just focused on winning the game and that is how he coaches.
Keith Lumpkin | Sr. | OL
Q: Why do you think you guys weren't able to get anything going on the ground?
A: I'll say it was just the will, you know. The just played good. They did a good job of getting off blocks and they just seemed like they wanted it more than us.
Q: How does that happen in a game like this?
A: You know the crowd you have. It's loud; they have 100,000 people you know you got a silent count so you can't really get off the ball like you normally would, so you just got to prepare better next time.
Q: How much have you seen from Marcus [Applefield], his progress, how much has he improved?
A: Marcus is a very versatile guy. He plays several different positions on the line, and he is ready to go in there any time. So I think he did a good job for the first time coming in there and playing big time football.
