Paterno won't say which QB will start

By Harold Zeigler
New Era Sports Writer

   Joe Paterno is major-college football's winningest coach.

This season he might doing his best coaching job ever. Three weeks ago his Penn State team was an embarrassment to the university, having gone 0-4 for the first time in the school's 115-year football history. The Lions have since reeled off two straight wins and look like a team reborn. So Paterno has to receive credit for the turnaround.

But sometimes he's an enigma. It's like he refuses to believe he sees himself when he looks in the mirror.

On Tuesday, three days after redshirt freshman quarterback Zack Mills led a second-half comeback from an 18-point deficit to beat Ohio State 29-27, JoePa refused to name him the starting quarterback for Saturday's Homecoming game against Southern Mississippi (ESPN2, 12:10 p.m.).

The Mills-led rally was the Lions' greatest comeback win at home in Paterno's 36 seasons as head coach, according to research done by the PSU sports information department.

""We are going to practice and will see what happens,'' Paterno said during his weekly state-wide media teleconference. ""I am not going to make any decision right now.

""We went out yesterday, a typical Monday, and did some things just to try to (correct) some mistakes and to get acquainted with what Southern Mississippi does. I think after we practice a couple of days I will make up my mind.

""It is not a big deal to us. It is a big deal, obviously, to a lot of other people. It is not to this team and coaching staff, so I am just going to hold off on that.''

Paterno clearly is trying not to step on the toes of incumbent redshirt junior QB Matt Senneca, who was pulled after just one series (and three straight incompletions) Saturday. Senneca, however, had a strong game against Northwestern two weeks ago and would've no doubt finished up had he not suffered a concussion with less than two minutes to play. Mills then entered, continued the drive, and tossed the game-winning TD pass.

""In all fairness to Matt Senneca, when I put Zack Mills in, I intended to put Matt back in,'' Paterno said, referring to the Ohio State game. ""I had intended to play both of them and I told them (last) Wednesday or Thursday that I would play both of them.

""I think Matt deserves an opportunity to go out there and practice and compete.''

But Paterno seems to know, like the rest of us, what Mills has going for him. When asked if his team seems to respond well to Mills, he answered, ""I played him, didn't I?

""We will see,'' Paterno continued. ""I haven't made any decision.''

The quarterback decision could be an important one. Southern Miss (4-2) is allowing just 60.7 yards rushing a game. It is the main reason the Golden Eagles' opponents have managed only 13.2 points a game.

Meanwhile, Penn State's running game has yet to become a force. Mills did rush for 138 yards against Ohio State, but that one game nearly matched the season total for any one back. Both Eric McCoo and Larry Johnson have rushed for 160 yards for the season. You can't expect them to explode against Southern Miss, a team strong against the run.

So Penn State's quarterback, either Mills or Senneca, might need to play well Saturday. And given Paterno's reluctance to name Mills the starter and his penchant for playing veterans...

""I don't know where you guys get this idea that I am bound to older guys,'' Paterno said Tuesday. ""I don't think there is any question in my mind that if there is a guy who is a young player and I am convinced he is a better player and can do more for the football team than an older guy, I am going to play the younger player.

""The trouble sometimes is that you don't see the problems that the younger player brings, with inexperience and mistakes. You only see the good plays that the younger player makes. You don't see the mistakes he makes and the unsettledness he creates in the huddle, both offensively and defensively, because he is not sure and is asking questions. Those kinds of things, you don't quite sense.

""I have always had a rule and continue to repeat it to the coaches: I would rather play a kid two weeks too late than one day too soon. If you put him in and he is not ready, he unsettles your whole football team and loses his own confidence.

""I am not married to playing older guys. The older guys have been told that. You have to earn your right to play every year, every play and every game. What appears to you that a younger player is better, you guys don't know what you are talking about sometimes ... because you are not involved every day.''

As an example, Paterno used his recruitment of Mills. Because he wasn't involved with Mills on a regular basis, he misinterpreted the fire that the 6-2, 205-pound redshirt freshman brought to the field, even though Mills led his high school to back-to-back Maryland Double-A state championships in 1998 and '99.

""When I looked at the tapes, I thought Zack was probably as good as anybody we could recruit until I met him,'' Paterno said. ""He didn't exactly light me up.

""His mom was from Maryland and was all mad because he was thinking about coming to Penn State. She was the one who had the fire. I had absolutely no idea that he would be quite the poised leader that he is right now.

""My first impression of Zack was, "Holy Smokes,' that he was a nice kid and if I would punch him in the mouth, he wouldn't punch me back. He didn't look like the guy who would get in the huddle and say what he said (at) Northwestern, "Hey guys, let's go score.'

""That is the one disadvantage of recruiting these days - the limited time you can spend with a kid. I was only allowed to be in his home once. That is an NCAA rule. I really didn't get to know him that well when we recruited him.

""We did a good job of evaluating physical ability. But once you get beyond that, until you can really spend a lot of time with a person, it is hard to know whether you are getting the right one or not.''

Mills has shown he can succeed. Now the coach just has to play him.