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Paterno supports Morelli as his leader
<!-- begin body-content --> Joe Paterno must think Anthony Morelli's confidence took a hit in the 41-17 loss to Notre Dame.
Penn State's coach was unusually complimentary and defensive about his junior quarterback during yesterday's weekly new conference.
"I think we've got a quarterback," Paterno gushed, even before anyone had inquired.
When asked if Morelli, who had a fumble and an interception in South Bend, might learn from his mistakes, Paterno was irritated.
"What mistakes?" he asked. "That's a stupid question, to be honest with you."
Someone then brought up backup Daryll Clark, who completed three passes and ran for a score in mop-up action Saturday.
The old coach had been involved in quarterback controversies in the past, and this, as far as he was concerned, wasn't going to be one.
"I think Daryll is going to be be good one of these days," said Paterno, racing through that preface so he could get to his real point. "But our quarterback is Morelli, and I thought he did a heck of a job... . That deep pass that was intercepted was really my fault."
It's Valley Week
Penn State played at No. 2 Notre Dame last week and will visit No. 1 Ohio State next weekend. In the valley between those two enormous hills waits Saturday's opponent, Division I-AA Youngstown State.
It's the most-pronounced sandwich game in Paterno's 41 years - a three-week stretch in which two national-championship contenders flank a team that played Slippery Rock in its opener.
In fact, there have been only two other regular seasons when games against top-10 teams were separated by one week with an unranked foe. Both were prominent teams.
In 1981, a year before the Lions' first national title, Penn State lost to No. 6 Alabama at home, beat unranked Notre Dame in South Bend, then thumped No. 1 Pitt.
Then in 1983, the Lions beat No. 3 Alabama, unranked Syracuse and No. 5 West Virginia on consecutive weeks.
Small Ten
After last weekend, it's hard to envision anyone - except, perhaps, Michigan - challenging Ohio State in the Big Ten. Consider what happened Saturday:
Penn State was thumped by Notre Dame. OK, that's not too shocking.
Northwestern lost to Division I-AA New Hampshire. The Wildcats must not live free because they died in this one.
Illinois was shut out by perennial Eastern powerhouse Rutgers, 33-0.
Minnesota was destroyed by California, 42-17. Cal lost by 17 at Tennessee a week earlier.
Purdue had to go to overtime to defeat Miami. That's Miami of Ohio.
Indiana barely beat Ball State, 24-23. David Letterman didn't play.
And Iowa had to come from behind to defeat Syracuse. The Orange lost to Wake Forest in their opener.
Bulletin board material
No. 1: Apparently safety Donnie Johnson didn't hear Paterno when, after Saturday's loss, the coach said the Lions were going to go home and "keep our mouths shut."
An Ohio native, Johnson was asked what next weekend's game at No. 1 Ohio State meant.
"Nothing," Johnson said. "I never did like Ohio State. I have no respect for Ohio State whatsoever. Hopefully, they'll still be No. 1, so if we knock them off, Penn State will be right back on the map."
No. 2: Johnson apparently didn't have much respect for Notre Dame either - until that game began:
"We looked at Notre Dame film, and they weren't good from what we saw on film," said the senior safety, who admitted to being shocked. "They didn't have nothing that stood out."
JoePa's history lesson of the week
"Back in '82, we lost to Alabama, 41-17 or 41-20 [actually 42-21], and we came back home and a couple of people got together and we ended up winning the national championship. Some of you may forget that."
JoePa's financial tip of the week
"Our problem is always going to be how you get the seventh home game. Because we've got to have seven home games. Not because we need them for football necessarily, but we need them for the money."
JoePa's backtrack of the week
Last week, Paterno said he moved defensive tackle Elijah Robinson to offense because he had more depth on the defensive line.
But on Saturday, he said his D-line failed to pressure Brady Quinn because "we were trying to do it with four men."
Asked about the apparent contradiction, Paterno suggested the premise of the question was wrong.
"We substituted people. [Steve] Roach went in there a couple of times, and so did some other people."
JoePa's doghouse of the week
Tight end Patrick Hall is in it, again.
Though No. 1 on the depth chart, Hall didn't even make the trip to South Bend.
"He's still got something to prove to me," said Paterno, who has not yet indicated what the problem is.
JoePa's quote of the week
When told his first team, from 1966, will be honored at Beaver Stadium on Saturday:
"It'll be great to see those old guys," said the 79-year-old.
Must be a Philly blog
This calm postgame assessment from a contributor to the 50-YardLionBlog:
"What a disgrace! Didn't they watch the Georgia Tech tapes? What was with the three-man rush? Instead of staying with the run, which was working in the first half, they went to the pass. The run was slowing down the game and keeping Notre Dame off the field. Poor, poor coaching. I stopped watching at halftime."
Snap decision
Paterno indicated the three botched field-goal attempts might be as much the fault of holder Jason Ganter as of snapper Jay Alford.
"The snaps were not perfect, but, I think, certainly they were handleable - is that a word?"
Linebacker U
Dan Connor continued to be the team's best defender, with 12 tackles. Paul Posluszny looked better against the run but was terrible against the pass, fueling more speculation that his knee isn't fully healed.