Sept. 16, 1999

Head Coach Butch Davis

“It’s been a good week of practice. Obviously, any potential distractionwere pretty much minimized as South Florida was basically spared to any ofthe Hurricane. The players were really cooperative about as we were able toorchestrate a practice for Monday and than have the early practice onTuesday.”

“It’s a huge game and a great challenge. It’s a terrific opportunity tomeasure just how far our program is actually climbing back up the ladder.”

“I think that the players are confident. I know our kids are excited aboutthis opportunity and are eager to play. We have good senior leadership onour football team. We have some very good seniors on this football teamsuch as Richard Mercier, Ty Wise, Michael Smith, Mondriel Fulcher. Theseare guys who have been at this program for five years and have seen some ofthe hype. They have done a good job of keeping the team focused on the taskat hand, that is preparation to play the game and not necessarily get caughtup in the hype.”

On Penn State…
“I think that they may be as talented if not more talented as the team thatwe played in 1987 in the Fiesta Bowl. I know that they have a tremendousamount of talented skill players on defense. And I don’t think I canremember them having this number of really talented defensive players asthey do this year. On offense, I think that stars really haven’t emerged isthat they have so many of them. They have great depth so I don’t think oneparticular player really stands out.”

On the open date…
“I used to think that open dates sometimes are a huge advantage. Now, I’mnot sure if it necessary always is. Certainly if you have injuries to mend,it’s beneficial. This week, with Najeh Davneport out and us trying to putan accelerated learning curve on the two freshman tailbacks (Clinton Portisand Jarrett Payton) it’s probably come at pretty good time.”

Offensive Guard Richard Mercier

“We definitely haven’t missed a beat. We’ve had a lot of practices with theopen week the week before. If anything it’s been good.”

“This is definitely the biggest game I have played in since I’ve been here.And the games now are only going to get better as the year goes on.”

Linebacker Nate Webster

On Penn State’s Offense…
“In the first two games they showed a lot of different looks and looked verygood. It’s going to be a great challenge.”

Wide Receiver Santana Moss

“There’s a the hype with the fans, but we players have to stay poised, andrelaxed and do our job.”

“Right now we’re just focused on winning and focused on getting the job doneright.”

On the bye week…
“It was great for some of us who had some knicks and bruises to heal up andnow were feeling real good.”

Defensive Tackle Damione Lewis

“We’ve been practicing for these guys for two weeks, now ere ready to get itgoing and play the game.”

On the Ohio State Win…
“It was a big confidence boost. It answered a lot of questions as far aswhere we are as a team. But we still have some questions that we’ll answerthis week.”

“I’m expecting to see their best and we’re expecting to show our best, so itwill be a defensive battle.”

Wide Receiver Reggie Wayne

“They have a lot of great talent and we know that. We’ll have an advantageplaying at home and we’ll just play hard and let everything take care ofitself.”

“This may be the biggest game for me here with me missing the UCLA game lastyear. So I’ll have to step it up a level and play real hard.”

“Their linebacking corps is very good and Penn State is always know n fortheir defense, so it will be a good challenge.”

Center Ty Wise

“I think this is the biggest game of my career and it will be the biggestcrowd in the Orange Bowl in my career here. I think it will also be themost prepared we’ve ever been for a games. We’ve been working very hardover the past two weeks.”

On the bye week…
“It was something we needed. We needed to correct a few things, especiallyoffensively. So I think it was real good for us.”

“Right now, I think we’ve put ourselves in a position to beat Penn State.With the win over Ohio State, we are very confident in our ability and nowthree games in, I think we are as prepared as we could be for this game.”

Running Back James Jackson

“They have a good defense. We just have to go out there and execute andstep our game up.”

“Our object will be first downs. We’ll just keep plugging away and gettingfirst downs. That’s the object.”