October 6, 2012 at 6:52 PM

Penn State players were not the only ones who made a statement on the field Saturday. Bill O’Brien did too.

After the officials called a pass interference penalty on Stephon Morris, the coach didn’t hesitate to voice his opinion to the referees. O’Brien, who walked to the middle of the field to check on an injured player, pointed in the direction of the official and blatantly questioned the call.

O’Brien joked he was simply taking out some aggression on himself.

“I was yelling at myself,” he said. “I was mad at myself. That’s all. I wasn’t yelling at anybody.”

However, players knew the coach’s true intentions and said they appreciated his desire to defend them. Defensive lineman Jordan Hill said he couldn’t hear the exact words his coach said, but assumed they probably wouldn’t be appropriate to repeat.

“We liked seeing him all fired up like that,” Hill said. “It makes us want to go out there and play harder for him.”

O’Brien, who had a well-known sideline tirade with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, has shown throughout his career he’s not afraid to back down from confrontation. Safety Stephen Obeng-Agyapong said O’Brien said the team feeds off this energy its coach provides.

“Coach O’Brien is an intense guy. He’s going to give it to whoever he feels like he’s going to give it to. That’s a good thing our team needs.”