Coach Rose on Penn State, Illinois, Northwestern
Sept 27, 2017 18:19:18 GMT -5
Millennium likes this
Post by nyline on Sept 27, 2017 18:19:18 GMT -5
Coach Rose met with the media on Tuesday. Click Here for our article on some of what he had to say. Below is an excerpt:
Question: Is Penn State a championship caliber team right now?
Well, we didn’t look very good last week against Nebraska, but we looked better in earlier matches. You play the season to try and get better, and that would be the intent. I think we’re relevant. I had a hard time filling out my poll [on Monday.] The only thing I felt comfortable was voting us ahead of Stanford, and yet we finished ranked behind Stanford. My vote doesn’t really matter that much.
Question: How much does a weekend like last weekend serve as a wakeup call?
I’ve been saying the same thing for awhile about the strength of the Big Ten. Three of the top four teams in the country were in the Big Ten, and all three of them lost. All of them lost at home to other teams in the conference. It’s just a reflection of how good the conference is. Michigan State beat Minnesota and Wisconsin, on the road, which is something nobody has done for a few years. And certainly Nebraska came in here and played awfully well against us. So I think the conference season is going to be a really interesting and exciting one for the fans, and a very challenging one for the schools — for the coaches, for sure. Ours is a precarious situation, because our travel partner is Rutgers. One of the coaches told me they didn’t spend any time preparing for the other team [i.e. Rutgers]. They spent all their time on us. That’s going to take its toll. We’ve got to spend an equal amount of time preparing for everybody on our trips. But that’s just the luck of the draw in the scheduling. We’ll have to find ways to be better and play the game at a higher level if we want to have success.
Question: Is Penn State a championship caliber team right now?
Well, we didn’t look very good last week against Nebraska, but we looked better in earlier matches. You play the season to try and get better, and that would be the intent. I think we’re relevant. I had a hard time filling out my poll [on Monday.] The only thing I felt comfortable was voting us ahead of Stanford, and yet we finished ranked behind Stanford. My vote doesn’t really matter that much.
Question: How much does a weekend like last weekend serve as a wakeup call?
I’ve been saying the same thing for awhile about the strength of the Big Ten. Three of the top four teams in the country were in the Big Ten, and all three of them lost. All of them lost at home to other teams in the conference. It’s just a reflection of how good the conference is. Michigan State beat Minnesota and Wisconsin, on the road, which is something nobody has done for a few years. And certainly Nebraska came in here and played awfully well against us. So I think the conference season is going to be a really interesting and exciting one for the fans, and a very challenging one for the schools — for the coaches, for sure. Ours is a precarious situation, because our travel partner is Rutgers. One of the coaches told me they didn’t spend any time preparing for the other team [i.e. Rutgers]. They spent all their time on us. That’s going to take its toll. We’ve got to spend an equal amount of time preparing for everybody on our trips. But that’s just the luck of the draw in the scheduling. We’ll have to find ways to be better and play the game at a higher level if we want to have success.
