UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon to
preview the Nittany Lions' trip to Virginia on Saturday.

Among the many positives Coach O'Brien took from Saturday's season-opener was
the play of several young players who started or appeared in their first game
as Nittany Lions. O'Brien reviewed week
one and previewed week two. Take a look
through some of the key remarks from the Virginia week press conference.
Ohio Roundup
Coach O'Brien said that the Nittany Lions have a lot to build on from
Saturday's season-opener against Ohio.
There were a few plays that went into Ohio's favor because the Bobcats
stepped up when they needed to. However,
Penn State moved the ball and can build on its mistakes and take a lot positive
things from Saturday's game.
"Usually close football games, they come down to eight or
nine plays on both sides of the ball, especially in college football where you
play‑‑ in the pros it's about five or six plays because you don't have as many
plays, but in college football I'd say about eight or nine plays," Coach
O'Brien said. "We turned it over, they
didn't turn it over. They converted on third down in the second half on
offense; we didn't convert on our offense on third down in the second
half. We had chances to break passes up, make interceptions. We had
chances to hit guys that were wide open or catch the ball being wide open, and
we did not make those plays and Ohio did."
New Lingo
Rather than call
the players who walk on to the Nittany Lion program "walk-ons", Coach O'Brien
wants to label the group as "run-ons" for their hard work and dedication. He said the "run-ons" do very little walking
and wants to give the dedicated group a new title. Additionally, teams often refer to the
players who help the first-string offense and defense prepare for the week's
opponent as the "scout team" or "foreign team".
Using a page out of the New England Patriots book, Coach O'Brien and the
staff refer to that group as the "dirty show."
"When we practice, we divide it up in different ways, so we
have certain periods that are ones on ones, twos on twos, then we have other
periods that are walk‑through type periods, then we have periods where we need
a look, like we need the Virginia look this week, so we have the dirty show
come in and do some of that," O'Brien said.
Third Down
The Nittany Lions are working this week to improve on third down on both
sides of the ball. Conversion rates on
offense, as well as getting off the field on third down on defense are two key
areas O'Brien said the team will need to execute in this week.
"They have to have a better awareness of the sticks, meaning understanding what
the down and distance is, how much they need for a first down," O'Brien
said. "They've got to understand when we call a pressure, where they're
supposed to rush and what that might trigger in the passing game when we do
pressure, meaning what the hot is, what the sight adjust is, things like
that. It's just overall awareness, and our guys are going to get better
at that, and it's a new system, it's a new year. Everything is new. So again, I would expect us to definitely
improve on 3rd down as the year goes on, on both sides of the ball."
Injury Update
Coach O'Brien
provided an injury update for both senior cornerback Stephon Morris and
sophomore tailback Bill Belton. Morris
and Belton both suffered ankle sprains on Saturday in the season-opener against
Ohio. Neither injury is serious, and
both players are currently day-to-day.
"If they don't practice by Thursday or Friday then probably
they'll be out of the game, but right now I would say it's day‑to‑day," Coach
O'Brien said. "It's probable, but again, won't really know until
Thursday."
Heading on the Road
Saturday will mark O'Brien's first road trip of his career, but he is no
stranger to games in Charlottesville.
O'Brien has coached at Virginia's Scott Stadium six times as a member of
the Georgia Tech, Maryland and Duke staffs.
"I think at the end of the day we've got to be able to deal with the crowd
noise, because having gone to Charlottesville many times at Georgia Tech and
Maryland and Duke, it's a very loud home crowd, it's a great home advantage for
Virginia, and we've got to do a great job this week of practicing with the
crowd noise because that's the biggest thing, not what they're yelling but how
loud they are," O'Brien said.
Virginia QB Rocco Has Penn State Ties
Junior quarterback
Michael Rocco (Lynchburg, Va.) posted a 25-for-37 effort for 311 yards and one
touchdown in Virginia's season-opening win over Richmond (43-19) on
Saturday. This week, he will play
against a school that his family has ties with.
Rocco's father, Frank Jr., is a former Penn State quarterback, who was
on the 1982 National Championship team.
Additionally, Rocco's grandfather, Frank Sr., was an administrative
assistant at Penn State for 19 years.
Frank Sr. was also the tight ends coach at Penn State in 1985.
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