Boo boos:

• Jake Ryan has been cleared to play. 
• Ondre Pipkins tore his ACL.

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Podium

“It was very good to win this past weekend. Homecoming, the Brown Jug, multiple things that were good. There was improvement, which you want every week. Fundamentally and with technique. We have to continue that with all positions. Two penalties and no turnovers, probably as much as anything besides winning, was very good for us as a football team and something for us to make sure that we pay attention to. I think we do, but the significance of that was huge to be plus two in turnover margin.”

Losing Ondre Pipkins, how does that affect what you guys do?

“Well, Richard Ash … We have some multiple guys. Willie Henry can play the three. Ryan Glasgow. Your heart just goes out to Ondre. Any guy that gets hurts, obviously. It’s something that is a little bit of adversity for him obviously and for our team. Just like anything else, we’ll work together and get through it.”

Is that past the redshirt deadline?

“That’s all something that we’ll have to appeal and do all that stuff with. It’s way too soon to say it is or isn’t.”

Upon further review, what did you see from Chris Bryant?

“I thought [Chris] did some real good things. There’s some things he needs to do better. When you do pass protection sets, that part of it. Graham [Glasgow], his first start at center. Did a nice job with snaps, which was most important. He’s a big body. I think we were pleased with how he went about his business.”

When did you make the decision to split Devin Funchess out to receiver? Where do you see his role going forward?

“Whatever best serves the team will be his role. He’s a big of a mismatch problem. He’s 6-6, maybe 6-7. I don’t know how tall he is. He’s got a lot of length to him. He’s got good speed. He played out in space like that all through high school. He never was really an on the line tight end. I think he still has that ability. Especially when you look at how his development, from a physical standpoint, over his career here. He’s going to be a little bit bigger, he’s going to be a little bit stronger.”

Can you talk about Joey Burzynski?

“Joe has done a really nice job since he’s been here. He’s always been very competitive. Picks up things well. Smart. Fundamentally he’s always been a guy who’s been pretty good on a daily basis. He’s truly a real team guy when it comes to being part of the football team. He’s a guy that we’ll obviously keep in the mix somehow depending on what goes on down the line.”

A lot of people thought Penn State would drop off in a hurry after the sanctions. Can you talk about how they’ve held together and talk about Bill O’Brien?

“Well Bill and his staff has really done a good job keeping that team together when the sanctions came. I think Penn State is always going to have good football players. Obviously the quarterback is a guy who kept a lot of his class together when they committed. That tells you about his leadership. They’re Penn State. They’re a physical football team. Got a little crazy last weekend down in Indiana. A lot of points, a lot of yards by both teams. But I think they’re a very good football team.”

Back to Funchess, would you be able to do this with him if Jake Butt hadn’t emerged?

“Yeah I think that helps a little bit. And Jordan Paskorz. We’ve been without Jordan for the past four weeks. He broke his hand in practice and has been doing things with a big club on. Finally got that off. He played some valuable snaps in there as an on-the-line tight end.”

How important is third down defense?

“Getting off the field is important. We’ve got to do a better job. We thought they hurt us with running the ball as much as anything in the first half with all the scrambling. We’ve got to do a better job when you look at lanes and those kinds of fundamentals that you need to have. I think this defense is coming around. Is it exactly where we need to be? No. But I think there’s guys who played better urgency, especially in the red zone. We’re just a work in progress because of some of the youth that’s out there.”

Seven carries for Gardner. How many of those were by design?

“By design, totally.”

Why by design?

“Because we want to run the ball with the tailback and that opens up all the big plays. When they have nine guys in the box because of the threat to run. Fitz was 4.6 per attempt, which we’d take that through the whole year. We want to run the football.”

Do you anticipate doing that going forward?

“I think you’ll see us do what we need to do to win, but we want to give the tailbacks the carries and take the pressure off the quarterback.”

Did you see better holes for Fitz Toussaint than previously?

“Well I think when you look at the scheme defensively they used and the tackle over stuff, I back stuff -- really because of the wide nine or whatever you want to call it they were playing the whole time, you put Taylor [Lewan] out on him and then you have Schofield and one of the guards on a double on the three-technique up to a backer, it opens up a little more.”

With the tailbacks, you mentioned that you wanted some of the younger guys to earn more playing time. What did Derrick Green to earn it?

“I think he feels more comfortable within the offense itself. I think he’s fitter than he was earlier, and that’s the big part of it, is him feeling real comfortable with what we’re doing.”

10 carries a game. Is that realistic moving forward?

“I think it’ll change game to game. We want to play him early.”

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Roundtable

What were you most pleased about after the bye week?

“No turnovers. I think fundamentally Devin, from his standpoint, the mechanics, how he threw the ball, how he drove the ball. Penalties. Discipline with those things.”

You mentioned Derrick was fitter.

“He’s more fit now.”

Has he lost weight?

“He’s trimmed down a little bit. He’s still 235.”

Is that where you want him to be?

“Yeah.”

You mentioned Funchess being a mismatch. Is he more when he’s split out wide?

“I think he’s more when he’s split out on a safety or a corner.”

How much does it take pressure off Jeremy Gallon?

“I think it is something that helps Jeremy in the long run.”

Is Jake Ryan ready to play?

“I think he’s getting closer. We’ll have a good practice with him tomorrow. Believe me, he’s wanting to play. Seems to feel okay, but we still need to make sure that he can do the things that he’s capable of doing.”

Do you have a plan for his return?

“We probably would.”

Is it on the table that he’s coming back?

“We’ll just see.”

Has he been cleared by the doctors to play?

“Yeah. But still playing football when you haven’t played in a long time. We’re trying to get him in.”

When was he cleared by the doctors?

“I don’t know.”

Could he have potentially played against Minnesota?

“Potentially.”

So Jake could potentially play against Penn State?

“Potentially.”

Do you think the new offensive line gives you the size and chemistry that you need?

“Yeah I think that the five of them together, it wasn’t perfect by any means in some situations, but I think those five guys did a nice job of complementing each other. We have to clean some things up when you look at some sets on protection and those kinds of things. I think it’s a good working group.”

Did Minnesota make it hard to call plays on third down ?

“There’s some of that. You get the third-and-three, four plus. Those are good defenses to call depending on what’s going on. I think the use of Leidner for them, which in the back of our mind we all knew that would be the way they’d go after the Iowa game, if you put him in the mix, he makes it a little harder to defend.”

Realistically, when can you expect Jake to be back in game shape conditioning wise?

“ … He plays pretty fast [now].”

Will he wear a brace on his knee?

“Probably.”

When he’s back and up to speed, how does that impact Brennen Beyer?

“It adds good depth. It adds, when you have your sub package stuff, nickel and dime stuff, it gives you an opportunity to do some things differently.”

Would you consider moving Beyer back to the defensive line?

“It depends on what front we’re in.”

What does having him back do for your defense?

“I don’t know. He’s a pretty good player.”

What has Matt Wile done to get back on track?

“Matt’s a very conscientious guy. Worked very hard and diligently during practice. And most of the time with those guys, they self-diagnose pretty well whatever it might be. I just think he’s worked hard.”

What was his reaction to the punt downed at the one yard line?

“I think he was happy.”

Blake has four interceptions already. What has he been doing to put himself in position to make those plays?

“Doing his job. Doing what he’s supposed to do on defense.”

Does him being in the nickel give him the opportunity for more interceptions?

“Depends on what style of offense they’re playing. If they’re a big team that wants to throw to the X? No, because he’s on the other side. If it’s a team that’s got a slot that they want to do a lot of stuff with? Yeah. Then it gives you a little more opportunity.”

Thoughts on Christian Hackenberg?

“I tell you, he’s very talented. Very talented. He can spin it. Shows a lot of maturity.”

Michigan and Penn State have met only 16 times since 1990. With realignment, do you see this becoming more of a rivalry?

“I think we kind of look at it as a rivalry.”

Why?

“This goes back to when I was here a long time ago. I’m trying to think …”

First one was ‘93.

“That was at Penn State, right? ‘97 we were there. I don’t know. I think it’s two traditional football schools in this country playing each other.”

Are you excited for it?

“Oh sure. What a great place to play. They’ve got a great place to play. It’s going to be all white, and it’ll be loud. It’ll be awesome.”

How will you prepare for the atmosphere?

“We’ll do a little more to prepare for the crowd noise. You’ve got to really send a message about how significant paying attention and being into the game is. You’re on the sideline making adjustments. You’re out on the field … believe me, some guys do get distracted. That’s not a good thing.”

Was it noticeable at UConn? Were there issues there?

“Not necessarily. But because of the way the stadium is, they got excited. But I don’t know. There are certain places where the decibel level is way up.”

Did you play better in the second half because you adjusted to it?

“I don’t know if I can say that. I don’t know if that would be accurate for me to say.”

Has crowd noise contributed to your struggles on the road?

“I think the first year up at Michigan State. I don’t think we communicated well. It may have not been the crowd noise. It may have been us.”