What did FIU coach Willie Simmons, Penn State players, say about the Lions' 34-0 win?

STATE COLLEGE — First-year FIU coach Willie Simmons sounded proud of his team’s effort throughout a 34-0 loss to Penn State. And, he should be. The Panthers hung with a sluggish Nittany Lions for the better part of four quarters and only surrendered 20 points over the first 56 minutes before a disaterous final 3:49 saw the Lions score twice on two plays while also recording a strip sack against the backups.

“I told the guys before the game that it would really show them who they are,” Simmons said. “And I thought for the first half, we showed everybody that when we are doing the right things, we can play with any team in America. We held the number two team in the country on the ropes, even with some missed opportunities. And now we have this decision as to what team we are going to be. Are we going to be the team that played like we did in the first half, that shows that we can play with any team in the country? Or are we going to be the team that allows little things to be self-inflicted?

“It was a hard-fought game, thought they fought hard for four quarters. They obviously came up short. But again, learned a lot about these guys today. I think a foundation was laid today that could help us propel through the rest of the season. We are going to use the 24-hour rule, and we will come back ready to work tomorrow.”

Simmons was also pleased with how his team handled the Beaver Stadium environment.

More: Penn State-FIU takeaways cover the issues on offense and more

“Of course, faith and fight are two of the seven Fs. So again, having the faith to know you are good enough to come into a game of this magnitude and I think my guys showed that. And the fight to go in and go toe to toe with one of the top teams in America and we didn’t flinch. I am extremely proud of the effort that we played with. Obviously, still attention to detail and some things we have to clean up. The good thing is they’ve shown that they will fight and compete.”

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What did the Nittany Lions players say about the win?

Each week, Blue-White Illustrated provides a roundup of the top Penn State player quotes following each win. Here’s a look at what was said after the FIU game:

“Just whatever the offense needs me to be, just being the best version of me. Whatever they are asking of me, just making sure I do it to the best of my ability. Whether it is blocking, catching, whatever.”

PSU receiver Devonte Ross on what he can add to the Lions’ offense.

“We were talking about it all week, you’ve got to have the mindset of “you’re going to come free” and “you never know who will come free” and be able to come off the edge. Getting free is huge.”

Nittany Lions linebacker Dom DeLuca on his blocked punt.

“I think that’s fair to say, and I think it’s just me making the easy throws easy. And it’s nothing more, nothing less. So, I mean, it’s just me playing a little bit better, and I think I did a good job of coming out in the second half and just making the easy things easy. But, yeah, just starting the game off faster, for sure.

“I think for me today that I caught myself just overthinking a couple times. And just not going out there and playing. Like, I was overthinking. We had the bubble to Nick that I just completely missed on the third down. I’m just overthinking it. And really, in reality, I made that throw all week in practice. So it’s just going out there, kind of just shutting my brain off, and going out and playing. As frustrating as it is, I know it’s really easy to be correctable. So I just got to go out there and fix it.

Penn State QB Drew Allar on not being in a rhythm for much of Saturday’s win.