PHILADELPHIA--Penn State topped Temple here at Lincoln Financial Field today on a late touchdown by Michael Zordich. The win dropped the Owls to 2-1 on the season. After the game, Temple coach Steve Addazio, cornerback Tahir Whitehead and quarterback Mike Gerardi reacted to the loss. Here are some quotes.
Addazio on switching up quarterbacks
"We felt that all week long we wanted to come out here and try to establish some power runs and play action. Then we felt that we struggled in that game with their defensive front, so we go to [Chester] and he started to exercise some spread option in there which gave us a little boost. Not a ton, but a little for sure."
Addazio on Bernard Pierce's four carries in the second half
"We weren't converting first downs. We tried to throw the ball a little bit to try and loosen that thing up. We hit a little funk and the power run game really wasn't there at that point. But we really tried to loosen things up."
Whitehead on the close game and responding to the loss moving forward
"We are going to watch the film the next day after the game, and get over it as quickly as we possibly can, because we have a big game next week. You just want to digest it as quickly as possible."
Whitehead on Penn State's fourth down conversion near the endzone
"We were anticipating a fullback dive, possibly option. Everyone runs the option in situations like that. But they got a little push and they ended up getting the first down"
Gerardi on his two interceptions
"It's very tough, but you just try to forget it, but it's still there. You want to continue to get better and make improvements so that it does not happen again. I know I'm going to try and learn -- all of us are going to try to learn -- from the mistakes we made, so that it does not happen again."