UNIVERSITY PARK - Joe Paterno wants you to know there is nothing new under the sun or in any offensive playbook.

""I could show you some things in a book that was given to me, that was written in 1912,'' Paterno said Saturday, after his team handled Southern Mississippi 38-20.

""A lot of the shotgun things you see today are in there. There's hardly anything new.''

But Joe embracing it all, that's new. He's always said the center snap in the shotgun scared him, but he's taking a hand-on approach to that problem. He was actually doing some snapping himself in practice this week.

""I was a single-wing snapper (at Brown University, class of 1950),'' he said. ""I coach the snappers. I better not be uneasy with it.''

Embracing variety and finesse and creativity, that's brand-new. And it's one reason Penn State has all of a sudden become a multiple-formation, freewheeling offensive team.

The approach has made the Nittany Lions fun to watch on the field and the scoreboard. Penn State scored 31 points in this season's first four games, all losses. It has scored 105 in the last three, all wins.

It all started with the hard reality that Penn State can no longer line up play after play and smack you in the face and run over you. Maybe it could never have done that annually in the Big Ten, but certainly not this year and last, owing to shaky, injury-plagued offensive lines.

Joe Pa began to reluctantly come to this realization in the fall of 2000, as his club lost four of its first five games, the last a brutal 45-6 beating at Ohio State.

""We've been trying and trying for 25 years,'' offensive coordinator Fran Gantner said Saturday. Trying, he meant, to get Paterno to embrace, among other things, the shotgun. ""Then he (Paterno) came in one day and said, "I've got an idea,...''

This was during the week before a home meeting with Purdue. It was also the week after the horrible injury to Adam Taliaferro, an injury that reportedly consumed Paterno to the point where he didn't have his usual role in game preparation for Purdue and, at least theoretically, turned Gantner loose.

The result was a wild, entertaining 22-20 Penn State win. The Lions didn't fully turn things around, but did win four of their last seven.

The next piece of the puzzle was Zack Mills, the brilliant redshirt freshman QB. Mills may or may not become the best quarterback in Penn State history, but he is certainly the best with three years of eligibility left.

Mills was not, of course, the opening day starter, because Paterno had a senior QB in Matt Senneca. But Mills did play in week one when Senneca got banged up, and has since forced Joe to abandon the seniority system.

Mills made his first start with Senneca healthy Saturday. The offense is, intentionally or not, built for him.

Mills is getting better by the week, and was remarkable Saturday, completing 18 of 29 passes for 280 yards. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and did not commit a turnover.

With five games left, Mills already owns the school passing record for a freshman, with 1,260 yards to 1,037 by redshirt freshman Todd Blackledge in 1980. If he stays healthy, it won't be his only school record.

""There's no question that he's farther advanced at this stage than anybody we've had,'' Gantner said. ""It's his poise. He is really cool.

""He sees some things that we don't see. He did some things today where I was shaking my head.''

Mills has turned Gantner into something of a gleefully mad scientist, with, at long last, his boss's approval.

Penn State is using the I formation, the quaint Power-I, what looks like a Single-Wing and no-back sets including, yes, the Shotgun. The play-calling is all over the place, but in a good way.

""One thing we're trying to do,'' Gantner said, ""is get everybody involved.''

Nine different Penn State players ran the ball yesterday. Six caught passes. Tight end R.J. Luke, playing only because of Wilson High School grad John Gilmore's injury, was thrown to at least eight times and caught five, for 61 yards.

In one offensive series, Penn State went to backup fullback Paul Jefferson three straight times. He only touched the ball two other times the rest of the game.

The Lions threw 39 times yesterday. Paterno teams have thrown more in a game only 11 times.

Joe Pa even approved a fake field goal.

""Fran suggested it,'' Paterno said, as if this was something that happens every day. ""We saw the way they were lined up it might be available. I said sure, go ahead. It better work.''

It did.

Gantner is like a kid on Christmas morning. But he was cautionary. Just a little.

""This is fun,'' he said. ""But I still believe there are times when you have to run the ball. There will be a point when we'll just have to buckle up, and we aren't there yet.''

That time wasn't Saturday, because Southern Miss went with the questionable strategy of loading up the box and daring Mills to throw it. The time might come at explosive Illinois next week.

The Illini is 7-1, and scored 38 straight points in an eye-opening destruction of Purdue at West Lafayette Saturday.

Penn State doesn't doesn't figure to be intimidated. What's happened here isn't all about scheme.

""Confidence is the name of the game,'' said wideout Bryant Johnson, who caught a career-high 10 passes Saturday.

Then he illustrated the point: ""Sure, I'll be the go-to guy; I'll accept that role. Especially if they cover me man-to-man. When I see that, my eyes light up.''

This is where Joe Pa being Joe Pa really kicked in.

""When we were 0-4, Joe did such a great job of telling these kids, "You're good. You've got to believe you're good,''' Gantner said. ""They never shut down mentally. They never started believing they were bad.''

""The only time I got upset with them,'' Paterno said, ""was the first half of the Wisconsin game. They just didn't compete. Other than that, they've battled. It's just a little different attitude now.''

OK, so maybe a lot different.

""Now we've got to start telling them they're not as good as they think they are,'' Gantner said.