At least for now, Matt Senneca can put his critics to bed.

Although Senneca was facing his own team's defense — much of which was comprised of backups — in Saturday's annual Blue-White scrimmage, he was cool, calm and collective as he quarterbacked the White to a 26-13 victory.

The Allentown native showed why coach Joe Paterno has no worries about the junior quarterback's ability after he completed 12 of 17 passes for 192 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.

"It felt great to be know that it was my team out there, my offense and that kind of thing," Senneca said. "I was real comfortable right from the start. All the hard work's paying off and I'm finally getting my shot."

Judging by the post-game comments of his teammates, the 2001 Nittany Lions appear to be Senneca's team.

"Matt's doing a great job," senior tackle Gus Felder said. "He's got a strong arm and he's smart. He called all the plays today. He put some good drives together and he was very vocal. He tells you how to do it and how to get it done."

It also appears that Paterno has a solid backup in redshirt freshman Zack Mills.

Mills racked up 97 yards as he split time between both squads. He showed a soft touch as he lofted a beautiful 34-yard touchdown to fellow redshirt freshman Ryan Scott in the second quarter and perhaps more mobility than Senneca as he eluded several collapsed pockets and would-be sackers.

Although Mills was a little panic-stricken during his first series, he settled down and showed good poise throughout the rest of the game.

"After I got through those first couple of plays, I was just playing off of instinct and the nervousness just went away," Mills said. "Right now, I think the main thing I have to work on is reading the coverages of the defense. I have to watch a lot of film this summer and get ready for the fall."

Zac Wasserman on the other hand, didn't fair as well. Wasserman — the other redshirt freshman battling for the backup quarterback spot — was shaky from the start. After fumbling his first snap of the game, Wasserman went three and out in his first series and fumbled another snap on his second series inside the red zone.

Aside from the botched snaps, Wasserman had a rough day statistically. Although he wasn't picked off at all, the California native completed only three of 16 passes for a measly 43 yards.

The pressure of playing in front of a large crowd may have rattled the young signal caller.

"I was very nervous," Wasserman said. "In high school, I was used to playing in front of 5,000 people. It's a lot different playing in front of 30,000 to 40,000 fans. I fumbled my first snap and I was scared."

Thankfully for Wasserman, some senior veterans were there to calm him down.

"I've been here for five years and with young guys like Zac, I'm just trying to get them to have an upbeat attitude and I'm trying to help them along," senior tailback Omar Easy said. "I know when I was a young guy, guys like Curtis (Enis) would try to help me along, so I know you have to sit them down and calm them down."

The backup position probably won't hinge on Saturday's performances but both quarterbacks gained the respect of the undisputed team leader.

"I think they both played pretty well considering it was their first blue-white game," Senneca said. "I was happy with the way they played. Both of them took some shots, but they've been taking shots all spring and bouncing up and getting right back in the huddle."