Everything Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith said on Monday of Michigan State week

Penn State interim head coach Terry Smith held his first news conference of Michigan State week on Monday. He started with a brief opening statement before fielding questions about the Lions’ loss to Indiana, the status of freshman defensive end Chaz Coleman, and more. You can read a transcript of everything he said below.

Terry Smith’s opening statement

I thought our guys played really hard on Saturday. At one point we were down 13 points to the No. 2 team in the country in the second half and we battled back. The effort was there from start to finish. The guys played really hard.

Obviously we didn’t finish the game the way we wanted. The offense had the opportunity to end it on our terms; we didn’t do that. Then the defense went out in the two-minute situation and obviously didn’t get that done as well.

Some positives, offensively we had six explosive, which is more than the last three games combined. I thought we did some things that no other team showed on film against Indiana; had some success there.

Some opportunities for growth, the middle eight, we had the turnover right before the half and then the turnover coming out of the half, which was ten points, which was critical to the outcome of the game.

Defensively positives, thought our guys played really hard. Thought our defense started to take form, started to look like our old defense. Guys are being physical up front. Thought we got some pressure on the quarterback. Got a couple sacks. We hit the kid all game. That was good. We set up a score as well.

Obviously the room for growth on defense was the two-minute defense. We played really good up until that point.

Special teams, overall I think our special teams continues to be a positive for us. We’ll just continue to build on that.

The negative, we had the one penalty at the end on a false start, so get that cleaned up.

Looking forward to going up to Michigan State this week. Guys are hungry. There is no quit in this team. The guys are excited to have a new opportunity this week. We know it’s going to be a challenge, but we’re focused to finish the season strong.

On the play of the secondary against Indiana

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, I thought the secondary played extremely well throughout the game. They were really competitive. When you watch the game as a whole, we covered really, really well.

Even the two-minute situation, you know, Indiana made the plays. They were tough 50/50 plays and you had the one play on the sideline with Audavion Collins and then obviously the game-winning touchdown. So highly contested plays.

So it’s tough for the outcome to be that way, but they made plays; we didn’t make the mistakes in that sense. So I thought those guys played a lot better this week.

On the play of Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer

TERRY M. SMITH: I thought Ethan was big time in the second half. When you look at the adversity coming out of the half, he threw the interception and could have easily hung his head at that point. He battled back and made some big throws.

He started to throw the ball down the field and he gave us a chance. You know, he fought us back into the game. I think his growth continues to get better. We have a quarterback for the future and we’re going to continue to develop and push the ball down the field and give him opportunities to make plays.

We have to clean up a couple things. Couple screens we want to get the ball out in front as opposed to on the back hip. Just make it a little easier, catch-and-run type situations. Those are things we’ll clean up in practice.

I thought he grow up big time in the second half.

On his relationship with Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, he’s given me full support. He’s allowing me to make the decisions that are necessary for the football team. He’s been there. I meet with him weekly. He continues to support us. He’s done everything that I could ask. There is nothing that we need outwardly.

He’s done a great job supporting us.

On using the Lions’ last timeout with 20 seconds left

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, the timeout at the end, you know, we got the first down and we felt like we should take a timeout to maximize our plays. We were trying to get to three plays if we could. Once you get the first down the clock starts running, so even to spike the ball you’re talking a three-second runoff is automatic by the rules of the game.

So we were just trying to maximize the number of plays we can get. Obviously we fell short no matter how it turned out.

But, yeah, that’s about the two minute.

What changed with the defense against Indiana?

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, it’s a combination of things. One, we’re deep into the season and we’re getting better grasp of the defense.

Two, we have simplified some of the playcalling of the defense.

Three, we’re drawing up a little bit more blitz packages to get the pressure and our guys are playing a little bit faster and a little bit looser.

You saw on Saturday they look like the old Penn State defense. They got after it. They were having fun. You know, we got three sacks and a bunch of pressures.

We have to turn a lot more of those pressures into true sacks. That kid was elusive on Saturday. I think our guys starting to settle into the defense and learning it and starting to master it, putting a couple caveats in there and putting a lot of pressure on the quarterback now. We want to continue that and build on it.

On his daughter Haley

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, Haley is my everything. She’s my forever child. He’s like the glue to our entire family. If the world had what she possess we wouldn’t have any of these issues going on in the world. We wouldn’t have war, a shutdown government, things like that.

She has unconditional love. She doesn’t care that we lose or win. Every day I get the same hug and greeting when I walk through the door as if it’s the first time she’s ever seen me. So that strength, it re-encourages me and lifts me up and helps me through the day and let’s me know this is just a game.

Why did Penn State suddenly start throwing the ball downfield in the second half of the Indiana game?

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, you know, honestly speaking, we just didn’t make those play calls, and we went into halftime and we made sure we made those calls in the second half.

Because obviously it gave us an opportunity to succeed in the second half, and then once we started making those play calls. That’s why the run splits with Nick and it helps the run game.

So we have to grow and build on that, and we’re going to come out at Michigan State and be super aggressive and mix with some play-action and run. That’s our formula to success.

On simplifying the defense and whose decision that was

TERRY M. SMITH: Jim Knowles is in control of the defense. So he’s running everything. We have conversations, some things that I would like to see. Just some points that — to try to hit home. But he’s control of the defense. As we talk through things and we talk about our personnel, getting our young guys involved, we know that the young guys can’t run the whole playbook. So we have to simplify for those guys to have success.

Alex Tatsch is in the game at the very end. We can’t have the whole playbook for him because it’s just too much. So we have to put our guys in position to succeed and I think Jim is doing a good job with that now.

On the status of Chaz Coleman

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, Chaz is day to day. Hoping to have him this week. It’s an injury so we are hoping to get him back this week. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to build here.

Yvan is having an amazing freshmen year. This kid is going to be a major part of Penn State’s future. He continues to play more and more snaps and love his development, love his work ethic, love his tenacity. He’s a big, strong guy.

We are just going to keep growing with him. He’s going to be one of our special players here in a year or two.

On his relationship with Ethan Grunkemeyer

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, you know, my relationship has grown tremendously. The head coach and the quarterback, you know, you’re partners in crime. We’re going through this together. We’re in turmoil together. His decision making, my decision making impacts this entire program. You know, things can change come December.

Right now we’re just living in the present. He is getting better each day. He’s preparing better each day. I’m doing the same. I’m trying to be better for him and to try to help him just have an ease in the pocket, have presence in the pocket, and deliver.

We saw the second half he really delivered that and gave us an opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to him this Saturday and seeing more growth this week.

On Nick Singleton’s game against Indiana

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, I think Nick is back full confident, starting in the Ohio State game for him. He had some good runs, some good performances in the Ohio State game. Then obviously a three-touchdown show this past weekend.

You know, hopefully we have the old Nick back for this week, so we’re going to continue to try to get him the football as well as Kaytron.

You know, last week I think I mentioned maybe to you guys the goal was to get those guys the ball 35 times. We got them 36 touches and gave us a chance for victory.

This week we want to be 30-plus opportunities for those two, and if those guys are touching the ball, we got a great chance at victory. If they’re not touching the ball, who knows what the outcome will be.

They’re our two best offensive players, and we’re going to continue to focus on those guys touching the football.

On preparing for Michigan State’s uncertainity at quarterback

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, worried about this kid from Michigan State. Just trying to dig up some film on him. Threw for a lot of yards last week, so we’ll get some film. They have a tremendous receiver in the March kid. He’s an all Big10 kid. He’s competitive. He’s big. He’s strong. Seems like every week we’re playing top level receivers, so it’ll be a challenge because there is just not a lot of film on them. We do have film on all the other positions, so we feel like we can take advantage of their front.

You know, the key to our defense is pressure and we’re going to bring the pressure this week.

Has Smith had conversations with Penn State players about their futures?

TERRY M. SMITH: I’ve had some conversations with some players, you know, just talking about the future and what their plans are. You know, essentially the consensus right now is wait and see. We don’t know. It depends on who the new head coach is. Then decisions are going to be made from there.

Because whoever that coach is, their style of play. What type of defense will he bring in? What type of offense is he going to bring in? Does it fit these kids?

So we’re all in that wait and see, so we’ll see how it all turns out.

On the play of freshman receiver Koby Howard

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, was pleasantly surprised. He’s a better blocker than I anticipated, which is a good thing. Means he can be an every-down type receiver. He is super competitive. I love Koby. We played him more plays and he doubled his catches in the game, so he went from one to two.

But he’s competitive, so we’re going continue to push him forward and try to get him more opportunities.

Trebor had a really big game for us and really needed that and want to continue to — in that receiver room someone step forward each week and deliver a game like Trebor did last week.

On his own future at Penn State and if he’d be interested in taking an off field role if needed

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, we have real conversations. James used to say I’m the truth teller in the building, and so when the guys come up and ask me about my future, you know, the truth is I don’t know.

I’m just like them. I don’t know. No one has given me confirmation to say hey you’re going to be here. We live in the moment, again, so I’m the head coach right now and making these decisions.

You know, I love Penn State. I would examine any position to stay at Penn State, but my concern right now is how do we beat Michigan State.

On the play of freshman Penn State cornerback Daryus Dixon

TERRY M. SMITH: Yeah, Daryus has always been a playmaker. At some point earlier in the season, you know, freshmen kind of hit walls at some points. He hit a wall and that kind of slowed done his progress a little bit.

But he’s back on track now. He’s a guy that’s going to continue to play the rest of the season. When he’s out there, he makes plays and delivers. So we got to get guys like that out on the field. He had the strip sack and unfortunately the ball bounced right back to the quarterback. He’s a playmaker. We got to get those guys on the field because they have knacks to make plays and turnovers change games.

We’ll continue to develop him and get him more action.

On why TJ Shanahan did not play against Indiana

TERRY M. SMITH: TJ is still part of what we do. He was a little banged up and so wasn’t quite as healthy. He was still available to play but was just nicked a little bit, and TJ will be part of the mix again this week.