Penn State didn’t lose to Iowa because of lack of effort.
Something Terry Smith stressed during his introductory press conference as Penn State’s interim head coach was that, if Penn State were to get beat, it wouldn’t be because of lack of passion.
“If we lose, it’s going to be because that team beat us, and they were just better,” Smith said. “We won’t answer questions about how we lost the last three games (to Oregon, UCLA and Northwestern). There is not one of those teams that we could arguably say was better than us, including Oregon.”
“So, I promise we’re going to put a better product on the field that every Penn Stater will be super proud of.”
On the effort from, Penn State gave Smith what he wanted.
WHAT TERRY SAID
“I don’t think anyone in that stadium was saying they didn’t see that (passion).
I think our guys played hard. I think our guys left it out there. I think they gave everything. There was nobody that turned anything down. There was no one that didn’t give great effort.
We just have to execute better. That’s where our problem is, and that’s my job to get it fixed.
I’m super proud of those guys and the way they played. We just gotta clean it up so that we can finish games.”
THERE WERE PROBLEMS
Although Smith was pleased with how hard his team played, there’s a reason Penn State lost.
“Obviously it’s a very disappointing loss,” Smith said. “It’s very disappointing the way we lost. I don’t feel like we made them earn it at the very end.”
Smith is referring to Iowa’s game-winning scoring drive, which took all of two plays.
But it wasn’t just the defense.
“All three areas need improvement,” he said. “In our special teams, we continue to have problems handling punts and kicks, just making good decisions with the football there.
“On offense, we continue to not be able to throw the ball down the field, or even throw the ball in the intermediate zone. So we’ve gotta get that fixed.”
“On defense, we can’t get stops when we need stops. It’s glaring and I have to get it fixed.”
As Smith later mentioned, the bye week is a good opportunity to sort things out.
Penn State next plays Nov. 1 at Ohio State.
