Blue White Illustrated

COACHSPEAK | EXCERPTS FROM BILL O'BRIEN'S WEEKLY PRESSER When you're faced with a team like Indiana that tries to run plays as fast as possible, how focused do you have to be on your own tempo? You have to keep a gauge on that. That's why I think with tempos, you have to have different types of tempos. If you watch us – not that we're a great offense, don't get me wrong – you can see that we have different types of tempos. We go really fast, medium fast, and sometimes we huddle up. I think that's really important. You have to gauge that during the game. How is the game going? You don't want to put your defense in bad situations where they've just been out there for a while and you go up‑tempo. If it's a 30‑second drive and you're three and out, then your defense is right back out there. That's not being a very good head coach or offensive coordinator. LOCKED IN Asked about how the recent NCAA sanction reduction will affect his recruiting efforts, O'Brien said, "Our guys are pleased with the news," he said, "but we're focused on the Indiana game." Tim Owen What kind of things did you get accomplished during the bye week? Bye weeks are important for many different reasons. Number one, our staff can get together and look at the things that we have done in the first four weeks. Your team's identity is pretty much formed after the first four weeks, so you can look at things like heavy tendencies and different areas of the field, or downand-distances – whatever you may have tendencywise and try to correct those. You can look at individual players and figure out what we have to do during the bye week to try to get these guys better. You can look at your team and say, "You know what? We're going to scrimmage our younger guys at the end of every practice and improve the depth on our team, improve these younger players for not only this year, but for the future." Bye weeks are important, and I think we had a productive bye week. How productive was the bye week? The proof is in the pudding on Saturday against Indiana. With Mike Hull ready to go, how does he make you more versatile and what's his impact on the defense? He's a good player, a tough kid, Pittsburgh kid who was a great wrestler in high school. He brings a toughness to our football team. You know, he got cut‑blocked against Syracuse – legally; it was a good block – but he was injured on the play. He's had a tough time coming back from it, but it looked to me, as of yesterday, that he was moving around better. He feels better, but he's just a tough guy. A Penn State linebacker, that's how you describe him, and it's good to have him back in there. Is there a chance Matt Lehman could get medical hardship waiver? How has he dealt with the difficult injury? He was playing really well. Then it was a noncontact [injury]. All he was doing was running a 10‑yard out cut, and there it goes. So it's tough. He's a great kid, and as far as a sixth year goes, it's hard for me to comment on that because it's such a complicated deal. What you have to basically do is prove to the NCAA that you deserve a sixth year. It has to do with personal background, injury background, transfer background. He was at Shippensburg and then he came here. We would be here all day if I was having to describe that to you. Obviously, we're looking into it, and we would love for it to work out. I think if it doesn't work out, he has a chance to play at the next level. He's 6-foot-7, 260 pounds. He's tough, he can run and catch. O C T O B E R 2 , 2 0 1 3 15 So one way or another he will be playing football somewhere next year. What has the reaction been among recruits since the sanctions have been reduced? I think it's been positive. I talked to a few of them. We're only allowed one phone call a week right now. I think it's positive, and it's positive news for Penn State. Our guys feel good about it. But we're focused on Indiana. I wouldn't bother asking our players about that. They won't answer it, I promise you. Our guys are pleased with the news, but we're focused on the Indiana game. How do you look to stay ahead of the curve on offense? I believe in certain things offensively. I believe in running the football. I believe in having diverse ways to run the football. I believe in throwing the ball accurately. I believe in smart players, tough players. I believe in team players. So what I try to do with our staff is look at all the things that go into the offense and then make sure that we know what [personnel] we have for this year. What can we do to help these guys – on both sides of the ball – to be the best players they can be? So, one of the things you do SEE O'BRIEN PAGE 16 BL UEW H I T EON L I N E. COM

• Cover