Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1138762
P E N N S T A T E F O O T B A L L >> weren't a lot of great plays and a lot of great things that were going on out there. There were a couple of things in the Pitt game that I really liked, just be- cause they were things that we had seen and we were able to execute. So I was happy about that. There was probably some of that in every game where it was like, hey, this is something we were able to see on tape and really execute it. And so I don't know if there was necessarily one thing. In every game that we play, there are probably four or five, maybe six, seven plays that I'm really happy with and proud of, and there are proba- bly that many that I'm disappointed by. So that's the beauty of the game of foot- ball: No matter what you score, you still might be really ticked off about a few plays during that game. BWI One of your players said some- times you're mad even with a 25-yard gain. RAHNE It depends. BWI Is that the curse of coaching? RAHNE It is, I think there's some of that. Mike Gesicki used to always joke how I would give him a zero on a play he scored a touchdown on. I'm like, you didn't do it right! … I mean, I still want it done correctly. And so there are some times when a 6-yard play is perfect and it's beautiful, and other times a 25-yard play is horrific. I know that sounds crazy, but it's just the way it is. You need some of those bad 25-yard plays. Over the course of a season, you need some of those in order to be a truly successful of- fense. You can watch anybody, and they've got a lot of those. So it's not like I'm going to give the yards or the points back, I assure you of that, but yeah, you would like to be able to coach the guys up all the time and try to set a standard. No one rises to low expectations, so the higher you can get them there, the better. BWI Looking at last season from a big- picture perspective, did anything hap- pen that you can say you didn't see coming? RAHNE I've been around it a long time now and have been around really good people and guys who have done it differ- ent ways. So it's not that there were things that you didn't expect. There are always things that you wish you had done differently, but there wasn't anything that was shocking. ... You always know you're going against other good teams, other great coaches, and you know they're going to make great adjustments. So that's not surprising. BWI Anything from the media or fan perception, being "the guy" that they're talking about now, right or wrong? RAHNE That was expected. That wasn't unexpected. I knew that was how that was going to go. We have an ex- tremely passionate fan base and we have a great media contingent. You guys do a good job and supply a lot of content to people who want it, so in that, you're going to have to be critical of people and that sort of thing. So it's not like I wasn't ready for that. That's part of the terri- tory. We all want to move up in our pro- fession, and there are a lot of guys who, even in this office, eventually in their careers, they want to call plays and every single one of them knows that's the LETTERMEN RETURNING 14 OL Will Fries, Steven Gonzalez, Michal Menet, Mike Miranda, C.J. Thorpe* TE Nick Bowers, Pat Freiermuth, Jonathan Holland RB Ricky Slade WR Jahan Dotson, K.J. Hamler, Mac Hippenhammer, Issac Lutz, Cam Sullivan-Brown LETTERMEN LOST 14 QB Trace McSorley, Tommy Stevens OL Ryan Bates, Sterling Jenkins, Connor McGovern, Charlie Shuman, Zach Simpson, Chasz Wright RB Miles Sanders, Johnathan Thomas WR Juwan Johnson, Brandon Polk, Tyler Shoop, DeAndre Thompkins STARTERS RETURNING 5 >> Will Fries (11 starts in 2018), Pat Freiermuth (9), Steven Gonzalez (13), Michal Menet (12), K.J. Hamler (13) OTHERS WITH STARTING EXPERIENCE 5 >> Jahan Dotson (4 career starts), Jonathan Holland (4), Mac Hippenhammer (1), Mike Miranda (1), Cam Sullivan-Brown (1) STARTERS LOST 6 >> Ryan Bates (13 starts in 2018), Connor McGovern (13), Trace McSorley (13), Miles Sanders (13), Juwan Johnson (7), Brandon Polk (7) * Lettered as a defensive lineman in 2018 O F F E N S E F A S T F A C T S POINTS/GAME 33.8 (3rd Big Ten; 32nd FBS) YDS/GAME 423.0 (5th; 45th) RUSHING YDS/GAME 204.9 (5th; 29th) PASSING YDS/GAME 218.1 (7th; 76th) PASS EFFICIENCY 131.0 (7th; 79th) FIRST DOWNS/GAME 21.3 (7th; 55th) 3RD-DOWN CONVERSION PCT. 37.1 (11th; 86th) 2018 STATISTICS